by Jason Pompey
The Lady Trojans volleyball team picked up two wins last week in Ettrick, VA defeating the Lady Lions of Lincoln University on Friday, Oct. 7th and the Lady Bulldogs of Bowie State University on Saturday, Oct. 8th. VSU has won three matches in a row and improved their overall record to 10-12 and 8-4 in the CIAA conference .
Sophomore, Jasmine Henderson recorded 24 assists and led defensively with 9 digs, as the Lady Trojans defeated the Lady Lions of Lincoln (Pa) 3-1 on Friday, Oct. 7th in Ettrick, VA.
The Lady Trojans improved their overall record to 9-12 with a CIAA conference win over Lincoln University in Daniel Gymnasium. The first set went into extra play as the Lady Trojans fell 30-28. VSU had 9 errors in the first set and only scored on 10 out of 29 total attacks.
VSU shaped up in the second set only making a single error the entire set. The Lady Trojans made 8 kills on 15 attempts and won by a large margin, 25-7. The next two sets went in VSU’s favor, 25-16 in both sets.
Two Lady Trojans had double-digit kills. Senior, Jasmine Davis had 11 kills and senior, Meagan Whiten led with 12 kills. Whiten also added 3 solo blocks and Davis had 3 service aces.Freshman, Jenessa Shinauld added 8 digs in a defensive effort.
The Lady Trojans volleyball team won their third game in a row, straight-setting Bowie State University 3-0, (25-9, 25-19, 26-24) on Saturday, Oct. 8 in Ettrick, VA. Junior, Nikkisha Walker led VSU with 6 kills and 9 digs. Senior, Jasmine Davis also added 6 kills and 4 digs in a Lady Trojan win over the Lady Bulldogs.
VSU improved their CIAA conference record to 8-4 with a great win in Daniel Gymnasium. In the first set, the Lady Trojans had an amazing .471 point percentage, scoring 6 kills on 17 attacks. VSU committed only one error in the first set winning 25-9. In the next set, VSU had 9 kills again but made 6 errors, but the Lady Trojans were able to overcome the Lady Bulldogs 25-19 in the second set. The third set went for extra points as VSU won 26-24.
The Lady Trojans scored 11 service aces as a team and used their height advantage in the middle, scoring 6 team blocks. Senior, Jasmine Davis had 2 along with freshman, Katherine Mathieu.
Sophomore, Jasmine Henderson had an all around game pitching in with 14 assists, 9 digs, and 5 service aces in the win. Freshman, Imani Wood helped with 7 assists and 4 digs.
The Lady Trojans will host the Lady Hawks of Chowan University on Tuesday, Oct. 11th inside Daniel Gymnasium.
Broncos Rally To Defeat Trojans in Dominating Fashion, 49-21
Freshman running back, Tyler Wilson rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown, but Virginia State University fell to Fayetteville State University 49-21, in Fayetteville, NC on Saturday, Oct. 8th. The Trojans had 6 turnovers and allowed 49 unanswered points after leading 14-0 early in the ball game.
Virginia State’s defense gave up 5 rushing touchdowns to the Fayetteville State offense that also rushed for 248 total yards. The Trojan offense had a fast start scoring 2 rushing touchdowns early, but fell apart as the game progressed with 3 fumbles lost and throwing 3 interceptions.
The Trojan offense began the game with several long runs by freshman running back, Tyler Wilson. Wilson had 4 carries in the first quarter for 31 yards and scored one touchdown. Sophomore running back, Kenay Hawks also had a great start to the ballgame, scoring VSU’s first touchdown on a 22 yard score on VSU’s opening drive.
The Trojans defense also began the game playing smart by forcing turnovers. On the Broncos first offensive possession, junior linebacker, Clifton Haney sacked the FSU quarterback and forced a fumble. Freshman defensive lineman, Darion Jones recovered his first of two fumbles on the Bronco offense. Jones recovered his second fumble of the game with 2:38 left in the first quarter on a quarterback scramble by the FSU offense.
On the Trojans next drive, Wilson scored on a 6 yard run and senior kicker/punter, William Rudd made his second extra-point attempt of the game, giving VSU the 14-0 lead with under a minute in the first quarter.
Everything was going the Trojans way in the first twelve minutes of the game.
Several key injuries to the Trojans defense in the first half gave the Broncos offense hope as they scored 21 quick points in the second quarter giving the Broncos the 21-14 lead at the half. The Broncos cleaned up their offense and played better defense than the Trojans and as a result extended their scoring to 49 straight points to win the game in a dominating fashion.
Junior quarterback, Jarred Battle finished the game completing 19 of 36 pass attempts for 170 yards. Battle threw one touchdown but threw three key interceptions in the loss to the Broncos. One interception was brought back for a FSU score in the fourth quarter.
Senior running back, Anwain Lyde returned from an injury after sitting out last week’s win and had 4 carries for 10 yards. Lyde led VSU in receiving with 7 catches for 42 yards and a touchdown catch with 3:26 left in the game. Senior wide receiver, Timothy Paulk caught 6 passes for 46 yards.
Defensively junior linebacker, Bryce Willoughby led with 7 tackles. Haney followed up with 6 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles.
With this loss, the Trojans now move to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the CIAA conference. VSU will play on the road again next week, traveling to Elizabeth City State University for a 1:30 p.m. showdown with the Vikings.
Jason Pompey is Sports Information Officer for Virginia State University Athletics. Email: JPompey@VSU.edu
