ASU volleyball hosts SIAC opponents

ALBANY — The Albany State Lady Rams are using this week’s SIAC Crossover Tournament as a chance not only to scope out their conference competition, but to also turn their season around and gain momentum.

The Lady Rams came into the home tournament at 3-6 and Thursday morning, they dominated Lemoyne-Owen College in three straight sets 25-16, 25-22 and 25-5 in what coach Robert Skinner said was their best offensive performance of the season.

“I thought we played extremely under control,” he said. “It was one of our best offensive games we’ve had all year long. We hit for a positive percentage and I was really pleased with that.”

Justice Howard led the team with 10 kills, while Kiara Thompson finished with a team-high 18 digs.

The team was back in action that evening facing Central State University and will face five more SIAC foes before the weekend’s end. Skinner said this is a good way to get a feel for where they stand in the conference.

“You want to make sure you are competing with your conference schools,” he said. “You get a good look at them and a good idea of who you’ve got to go against, especially if you qualify for the conference tournament.”

He said he believes the key is not only getting to .500, but making a run at the top spot in the SIAC to bring the same energy and intensity he saw in Thursday morning’s match.

“We’ve got to play consistently every day,” he said. “We’ve got to come every game focused and on top of our A-game from the time we step on the floor until the end of the game.”

With that many games in a short span, Skinner added that the teams conditioning will be their biggest strength as the weekend continues.

“I think our conditioning [is our biggest strength],” he said. “We worked really hard in camp, so the preseason was good to us. We’ve just got to become more consistent and then become more efficient on offense. I think those are our two biggest areas that we’ve got to work on.”