Martin, Tenn. --- The Tennessee State University volleyball team pulled out a crucial five set (3-2) win over UT-Martin on the road Thursday night, keeping the Tigers’ OVC Tournament hopes alive.

The set scores were 25-18, 21-25,17-25,25-12,15-11.

With the win, Tennessee State (7-14, 5-8 OVC) moved to within one game of passing UT-Martin (8-19, 6-7 OVC) for the sixth and final tournament spot.

TSU recorded 67 kills and turned in an attack percentage of .299 while UTM registered 54 kills and posted a .209 attack percentage.

Candace Saleaumua led the offensive charge for TSU with a career-high 25 kills (.476) in addition to 10 digs for a double-double. Christian Lowe also recorded a double-double with 15 kills and 15 digs. Yamari Padilla-Collazo dished out 39 assists while Terakka Walker turned in 14 digs for the Tigers.

After trading points in the opening set, Tennessee State moved in front and built an 11-8 lead following four consecutive Tiger kills. A couple of Skyhawk errors gave the Tigers a 15-11 lead before TSU went on to take the frame 25-18. TSU hit .412 in the first set.

After falling behind early in set two, the Tigers were able to battle back and move ahead 6-5. A kill from Yamari Padilla-Collazo extended the TSU lead to 15-12 but timely UTM kills and costly errors by the Tigers led to the Skyhawks knotting the score 20-20. UTM then outscored TSU 5-1 down the stretch to capture the 25-21 win.

The Skyhawks jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead in the third set and eventually swelled the lead to 22-13. UTM held on to the advantage on the way to the 25-17 win.

Trailing the match 2-1, a determined Tiger squad opened the fourth set with five unanswered points to capture a 5-0 advantage. UT-Martin got on the board following a TSU service error but another 5-0 run inflated the Tiger lead to 10-1. The Tigers never looked back and led by as many as 15 (24-9) before closing out the set 25-12. TSU hit a scorching .538 in the stanza.  

Both teams battled in the fifth and deciding set. TSU pulled ahead 5-4 on a UTM attack error but the Skyhawks evened the set 5-5. The scored wavered back and forth over the next several points featuring three ties and three lead changes. With the score tied 11-11, TSU used a 4-0 run, including two kills from Candace Saleaumua, to take the final set 15-11.

The Tigers return to action tomorrow when the travel to Murray State for continued OVC action.