BOSSIER CITY, La. – Dillard University volleyball players Cadence Thomas and Gabrielle Washington led a strong front row defense and Vanae Sapp and Tyramae Fautanu recorded double-doubles to lift Dillard University to the title with a sweep over Talladega College (25-18, 25-23, 25-19) in the 2024 Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) Championship Match at Billy Montgomery Gymnasium.

Thomas recorded two solo blocks and four assists and Washington provided four block assists. The Bleu Devils turned away 11 attacks from Talladega and held it to a .032 hitting percentage, its lowest of the season.

Sapp recorded her third double-double of the tournament with 11 kills and 12 digs, earning the 2024 HBCUAC Championship Most Valuable Player. Fautanu recorded 15 assists and 10 digs. Thomas and Washington followed Sapp in kills with eight and seven, respectively. Trenity Pender provided 13 digs and four assists, earning All-Tournament. Sara Da Silva also earned All-Tournament with seven kills in the championship match.

Dillard (20-8) took the lead in the first set with a four-point run on three attack errors by Talladega. A kill by Thomas sparked a seven-point run which allowed the Bleu Devils to pull away. Washington and Nya St. Cyr teamed up for two blocks and each got kills to give Dillard an 18-8 lead. Sapp sealed the set with a kill.

The Bleu Devils continued their momentum in the second set jumping out to a 7-3 lead on two kills from Sapp, who also teamed up with Washington for a block. Talladega rallied with a five-point run. Marcelly Perez and Zariah Messick teamed up for two blocks. Giovana Costarelli recorded two aces to give the Tornadoes an 18-17 lead prompting a timeout by Dillard coach Angela Franke.

Kills by Da Silva, Thomas and Makaela Swoopes gave the lead back to Dillard. The teams exchanged points. Washington and Da Silva got kills to put the Bleu Devils up by two games.

The third set was a see-saw battle. Re’na Ashley recorded three kills and teamed up with Perez for a block to give the Tornadoes a five-point lead. It maintained its advantage until it made an attack error and Sarai Rogers recorded a kill to put Dillard in front 15-14. Franchesca Rivas recorded a kill and Kortni Johnson and Josephine Gates put down a block to put Talladega up 17-15.

Washington and Da Silva scored kills and the Bleu Devils took advantage of two attacking errors to retake the lead 19-17. Talladega was unable to rally. Thomas recorded a solo block, a block assist and a kill. Sapp clinched the title with her 11th kill.

Ashley led the Tornadoes with eight kills. Messick followed with seven kills and two block assists. Johnson had six kills and two block assists. Costarelli led the team with 17 assists and three service aces, earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Nuria Santos provided 11 assists and six digs. Briyith Echeverri recorded 22 digs. Taquoia Rounds followed with 12 and earned All-Tournament.

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BOSSIER CITY, La. – The championship match of the 2024 Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) Volleyball Championship is set. Top seed Talladega College and No. 2 seed Dillard University will battle for the title at noon on Wednesday.

NO. 1 TALLADEGA 3, NO. 4 PHILANDER SMITH 0   Boxscore
Talladega College volleyball players Franchesca Rivas and Josephine Gates provided double-digit kill performances to send the Tornadoes to the championship for the second consecutive season with a sweep over Philander Smith University (25-18, 25-22, 25-18).

Rivas recorded 15 kills in 38 attempts and added six digs and two block assists. Gates contributed 10 kills and eight total blocks. Giovana Costarelli nearly recorded a double-double with 19 assists and eight digs. Nuria Santos added 15 assists and six digs. Briyith Echeverri led all defenders with 21 digs.

Two kills by Re’na Ashley and a service ace by Stella Lukaszuk gave Talladega a five-point lead early in the first set and it didn’t relinquish it. The Tornadoes put down 15 kills in 36 attempts while Philander Smith had 10 but made eight attack errors in 37 attempts. Gates clinched the first set with a kill. Talladega did endure a scary moment as Kortni Johnson and Taquoia Rounds collided going after a ball and did not return to the game.

With Talladega having to shake up its rotation, Philander Smith got a jump on them in the second set. Zarea Winn got a kill and a block and Essence Wren got a kill to put the Panthers ahead 11-6. After a timeout, the Tornadoes regrouped. Gates, Ashley and Rivas got kills to cut the margin to 11-10.

Philander Smith called a timeout leading to another momentum shift. Two kills by Winn, one by Sanders and a pair of errors by Talladega gave the Panthers a 16-11 lead. The lead stayed intact until Ashley got a kill and Gates got a block to give Talladega a 21-20 lead. The Panthers tied it with an attack error by the Tornadoes. Rivas put down two kills and Gates one to take the set.

The Tornadoes took control of the third set with a five-point run. Rivas got a kill and Gates and Costarelli and Dyani Steward teamed up for three blocks to increase their advantage to 12-7. It lead by as many as eight. Winn got a kill and teamed up with Antonisha Whitney for a block to cut the margin to four. Kills by Rivas and Ashley and two attack errors by Philander Smith put the Tornadoes up by eight.

The Panthers finish the season 21-7. Sanders recorded 10 kills and seven digs. Winn notched eight kills, three digs and three total blocks. Wren posted a double-double with 23 assists and 18 digs. Christlove Lauture put up 12 digs.

NO. 2 DILLARD 3, NO. 3 FISK 0 Boxscore
Dillard University volleyball players Vanae Sapp recorded a double-double and Gabrielle Washington led a strong front row defense to lead the Bleu Devils to a sweep over Fisk University (25-19, 25-15, 25-18).

Along with a spot in the championship match the victory gives Dillard the conference’s second automatic berth to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Volleyball Championship Opening Round. Talladega gained the other automatic berth by winning the regular season title.

Sapp tallied 13 kills, 15 digs and five service aces. Cadence Thomas followed with eight kills in 19 attempts. Washington contributed to six blocks with two solo and put down five kills. The Bleu Devils blocked seven attacks from the Bulldogs and out-hit them .327 to .118. Dillard put down 42 kills and only made eight errors in 104 attack attempts. The Bulldogs recorded 32 kills but made 19 errors in 110 attempts.

The Bleu Devils (19-8) pulled out to a 10-1 lead in the first set and didn’t look back. Sapp recorded two kills and four service aces. Fisk didn’t get closer than five. Washington secured the first set with a kill. Dillard outhit Fisk .216 to .132 in the first set.

Fisk briefly held the lead in the second set on kills by Sydney Willis and Trinity Britt. Kills by Thomas, Sapp and Sara Da Silva opened a seven-point lead for Dillard. The Bulldogs didn’t have an answer. Kills by Thomas and Da Silva opened up a double-digit advantage for the Bleu Devils.

Sapp scored two kills and Nya St. Cyr one to give Dillard a four-point lead in the third set. The Bulldogs weren’t able to put more than two points together. Two kills by Neveah Bax and one from Thomas, put the Bleu Devils in striking distance of clinching the match. Thomas, Da Silva, St. Cyr and Sapp closed it out for Dillard, which is making their second appearance in the finals in the last three years.

Tyramae Fautanu recorded 19 assists and four digs. Nanyelis Moreno followed with 17 assists, five digs and two service aces. Trenity Pender and Jasmyne Mumphrey posted double-digit dig performances with 13 and 12, respectively.

Fisk finished the season 23-16. Willis led the attack with 13 kills. Reagan Jones followed with eight and contributed eight digs. Britt recorded a double-double with 23 assists and 14 digs. Nialah Gupton provided 14 digs and three assists.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Southern States Athletic Conference Board of Presidents unanimously approved the addition of Talladega College effective July 1, 2021, with competition to begin during the 2021-22 academic year.

Talladega’s men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball teams have all had recent success at the national level, with men’s basketball earning national tournament bids six of the last seven years, women’s basketball earning five bids in the last seven years, baseball reaching three-straight NAIA Opening Rounds and softball earning an opening round bid in 2018.

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But a loss to Freed-Hardeman is the last thing voters have to look at on the Tornadoes schedule prior to voting in the first regular season poll.

Talladega droped one spot to No. 20 in the NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll.

Here is the complete poll:

NAIA WBB Top 25 Poll – 2020-2021 No. 1

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COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Talladega Men’s Basketball team made the trip to Columbia College yesterday evening for a non-conference battle with the Cougars. They would enter enemy territory having won their last game on Saturday against the University of Mobile.

The Tornadoes came out of the gate strong keeping CC from going on and large run to open up play. Darryl Baker would score the first bucket of the game to set the tone.

As the first half went on the pace of play was heavily dominated by the Tornadoes. Talladega mustered ten points off of turnovers, 16 points inside the paint, and ten second chance points. The Tornadoes were also shooting at a 60% clip from beyond the arc as they took a 45-31 lead into halftime.

The Tornadoes continued to stay dominant and didn’t let Columbia get within striking distance. The Tornadoes held Columbia to just 30 points in the second half, earning their sixth consecutive non-conference win in a row 79-61.

“Columbia has traditionally been very good and very hard to beat at their place,” said Head Coach Chris Wright. “This was a solid win for us. I thought we had several guys that haven’t had the best year step-up for us tonight. It’s fun to see how this team is growing and improving. Saturday will be a tough test for us.”

The three-point shooting cooled off for the Tornadoes in the second half as they finished with a 42% clip from three-point range but still finished 50% from the field overall. The Tornadoes bench chipped in over a quarter of their points with 26 and as a team they forced nine turnovers.

Baker led the Tornadoes on the offensive side of the ball draining 15 points and four other Tornadoes hit double-digits in points. Paul Turner and Kamron Brice tacked on 14 and 13 points respectively, Malcolm Bell finished with eleven and Amir Yusuf was dominant in the paint with eleven points and eight rebounds.

The Tornadoes will head into the weekend sitting at 7-1 overall and will look to improve on that mark Saturday against the University of Mobile. That road game will start at 2 p.m.

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NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference released its Preseason All-GCAC Team as voted on by the league’s seven head coaches this week with Talladega’s Darryl Baker earning Preseason Conference Player of the Year.

The fact that five of the seven teams were represented on the squad with no more than one player per program speaks to the depth and diversity that the GCAC presents from top-to-bottom in the league.

Baker, a senior guard from Jeffersonville, Indiana, was an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention after lighting up the GCAC to the tune of 16 points per game while knocking down an eye-popping 48 percent of three-pointers and 93 percent of his free throws.

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NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference announced its Women’s Basketball Preseason All-GCAC Team on Wednesday afternoon with Talladega’s Tyeisha Juhan claiming the title of Preseason Conference Player of the Year. The voting took place by the league’s seven head coaches.

Joining Juhan is Rust’s Katie Blackmon, Edward Waters’ La’Quanza Glover, Philander Smith’s Rakia Lane and Dillard’s Paige Williams.

As with the men’s preseason team, the women had five different programs represented on the squad as well.

Juhan, a senior guard from Atlanta, Georgia, was an NAIA All-American and All-GCAC First Teamer last season after averaging 15 points and 2.7 steals per game for the Lady Tornadoes.

Blackmon, a junior center from Olive Branch, Mississippi, got an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention along with a spot on the All-GCAC Second Team. She totaled 18 double-doubles on the campaign while posting an average of 11 points and 12 boards a night, ranking third in the nation in rebounds per contest.

Glover, a senior guard from Jacksonville, Florida, recorded career-highs in points (14.6), rebounds (12.0) and assists (3.6) per game, led the conference with a .513 field-goal percentage and currently sits 16 points away from reaching 1,000 points for her illustrious EWC career.

Lane, a senior guard from Little Rock, Arkansas, hit the tenth-most triples in the GCAC a season ago with 41, ranked among the top-15 in the league for points per game (12.00), total points scored  (359), threes per game (1.37) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.02) plus placed inside the top-20 for assists (55) and assists per game (1.83).

Williams, a senior forward from New Orleans, Louisiana, led the Lady Bleu Devils in scoring (12.8) and assists per game (2.39), finished eighth in the GCAC with 57 steals and among the top-20 for rebounds per contest (4.9).

GCAC Preseason Player of the Year: Tyeisha Juhan (Talladega)

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TALLADEGA – The Talladega College Women’s Basketball team faced off with Louisiana State University-Alexandria yesterday evening in their first matchup of the 2020-2021 season. With the win, the Lady Tornadoes would get their season off to a strong start.

The Lady Tornadoes, looking to come out with a bang in their first game played in the new Dr. Billy C. Hawkins Student Center, came out firing on all cylinders in the first half.

Talladega jumped out to a 25-22 lead at the end of the first quarter and stretched that lead to 47-39 heading into the halftime break.

The second half was much of the same story. Talladega outscored the Lions 27-11 in the third quarter to take the lead by 24 points and then cruised to a 114-69 win.

“We didn’t have the greatest first half,” said Head Coach Kevin Herod. “However, our style is to wear opponents down. I believe we did that in the second half. We have the chance to do something special this year if we can stay focused and united.”

The win starts off Talladega with a 1-0 overall record. The loss will start LSUA with a 0-1 overall record.

Talladega got huge contributions from many Lady Tornadoes in the win. Senior Tyeisha Juhanscored a team high 32 points, and had nine rebounds. Kenetria Redfern had a monster game, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Anna Radenkova also had 16 points, and Ireon Smith and Kameron Shelley both had eleven points.

The Generals were led by Kelsey Thaxton who had a team-high 24 points. Ciera Daniels finished with 17 points and Aaliyah Williams had ten points in the loss.

Talladega will host another non-conference matchup this Saturday, taking on Carver College at 3:00 pm.

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TALLADEGA – Looking to bounce back after a tough loss in their season opener, Central Baptist College men’s basketball took on Talladega College today in the final game of the Fresh Start Classic at Callanan Gymnasium. CBC (0-2) trailed by six at halftime, but they couldn’t overcome the deficit, dropping a 71-69 decision to TC (1-1).

Tedrick Wolfe (SR/DeWitt, Ark.) led the way in scoring for the Mustangs with 20 points and he was joined in double figures by Kelvin Robinson (SR/Little Rock, Ark.) who had 14 points, including 10-10 at the charity stripe. Robinson also led the team in rebounds with eight while DeAndre Barton (SR/Hephzibah, Ga.) had five assists to lead the team. Talladega won from the field, outshooting CBC 46 percent to 42 percent, from the free throw line, shooting 77 percent to 74 percent and on the glass, grabbing 37 rebounds to just 24 for the Mustangs.

The lead changed hands four times in the first half with neither team leading by more than nine. Talladega took the lead, 19-16, with 8:05 left in the half and led from there, taking a 34-28 lead into halftime.

CBC charged back to open the second half, outscoring Talladega 12-4 over the first 3:02 of the second half to lead 40-38 with 16:58 left in the contest. Talledega would then go on a 9-0 over the next three minutes and change to take a seven point lead that CBC could never come back from. The Mustangs would get within one at 70-69 with nine seconds left, but TC made a free throw and CBC was unable to get up a quality shot to win.

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TALLADEGA – The Talladega College Men’s Basketball team opened their 2020-2021 season in the brand new Dr. Billy C. Hawkins Student Center with a 102-37 win against Southeastern Baptist College on Saturday.

An exciting day from the start became even more special as the Tornadoes would secure the first points of the day and the first made basket in the new arena.

Kamron Brice would keep the momentum in favor of TC as he would force a turnover and find himself with no one in front of him. After a big bucket Brice would stretch TC’s lead to 21 with 5:24 left in the first half.

The Tornadoes would continue to storm ahead holding control of the first half, earning as much as a 27-point advantage. The two sides would head into the locker room for halftime with the Tornadoes leading 45-18.

The Tornadoes kept the momentum in their favor as just minutes in, Darryl Baker would hit back to back three pointers to open the second half. Talladega began to stretch their lead as the Chargers would never cut their double-digit deficit.

With the Tornadoes up by 57, Paul Turner, who shot 50% for them game, got in on the three-point action as well stretching the TC lead with a big time shot.

Minutes later, Richard Brooks would get himself in the score book as he hit a deep three to seal the game for TC securing the 102-37 victory.

“I am really proud of how we played,” said Head Coach Chris Wright. “I thought we tried to defend, rebound, and play the right way.”

“I love that we had 20 offensive rebounds, only ten turnovers, and had 72 paint touches,” continued Coach Wright. “Those numbers are a recipe to win a lot of game this season.”

Turner opens the season with 17 points and six rebounds. Amir Yusuf had a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds while Baker added 16 points as well.

Malcolm Bell opened his year with 15 points and Kevin Paige opens his season with a double-double earning eleven points and eleven rebounds.

The Talladega Men’s Basketball team open their 2020-2021 with a 1-0 overall record.

TC will next play in the Fresh Start Talladega College Classic. Games begin on October 30th at 5 pm.

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