TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Stillman College volleyball team played in front of the home crowd in Birthright Alumni Hall for the first time in the 2025 season Thursday night. However, the team could not pick up the victory as the Talladega College Tornadoes pulled out a 3-1 win over the Tigers (25-22, 21-25, 29-27, 25-18) in Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference action.
Stillman falls to 0-5 on the season and 0-1 in the HBCUAC, while Talladega improves to 1-7 and 1-0 in the conference.
The Tigers dropped the back-and-forth opening set 25-22 before storming back to win the second set, the first set win of the season, 25-21, capped by a kill from
Raine Patterson to force the 1-1 tie in the match.
Stillman trailed by as much as 9-0 before storming back in the third to take a 22-21 lead late in the game. However, a kill by Kortni Johnson and a Stillman attack error helped Talladega 23-22 lead. Undaunted, Patterson came back with a kill of her own to tie the set at 23-23. Another kill from Johnson and an attack error from Taquoia Rounds tied the third at 24-24.
Rounds redeemed herself with a kill to give Dega a 25-24 lead, but
Ava Cameron smashed a kill to tie the contest once more. The ties and lead changes continued until a kill from Jadah Powell gave the Tornadoes a 29-27 win in the third to take a 2-1 match lead.
The fourth opened with a 7-1 run for the Tigers, capped by a kill from Cameron. Dega surged ahead, however, to a 10-9 lead following back-to-back kills from Rounds. Stillman briefly regained the lead, 11-10, after a
Paige Eason kill, but the Tornadoes took control and pushed ahead to a 19-12 lead and went on to capture the fourth and final set 25-18 to collect the first win of the season for Dega.
Ava Cameron turned in a quality performance with 15 kills on a .333 attack percentage with five blocks defensively.
Katelyn Lawson posted nine kills, while
Raine Patterson finished with eight kills on a .368 percentage.
Domineshia Jones kept the offense moving with 20 assists and added 13 digs.
Zoey Sales led the back row with 15 digs.
Stillman College returns to action Saturday, Sept. 13, with two scheduled contests in Columbus, Mississippi. The Tigers start the day at 2 p.m. against the United States Sports University before facing the Mississippi University for Women at 4 p.m.
