CLEMSON, S.C. – Graduate Mckenna Slavik reached 4,000 career assists after tallying 18 on Saturday evening to lead the Tigers, but Clemson (3-2) fell in three sets (15-25, 20-25, 22-25) to South Alabama (5-0) during the Clemson Invitational. Slavik becomes the fourth player in Clemson history to reach the milestone and becomes the fifth-active NCAA Division I student-athlete to hit the 4,000 mark.
Despite Clemson jumping out to an early 4-2 lead in the first, South Alabama strung together a 5-0 and 7-0 scoring run in the middle of the set to claim the opening set, 25-15. Junior Azyah Dailey and freshman Kate Simington attempted to bring the Tigers back, clocking three and two kills, respectively, and sophomore Mia Moore added one down the stretch, but fell short.
The Jaguars opened the second set on the same hot streak as set one. Graduate Adria Powell came away with a big solo block that looked to shift things in Clemson’s favor, but South Alabama strung together a 10-point scoring run that forced the Tigers to call timeout trailing 12-3. The Tigers cut into the lead with kills from Moore, Dailey, Powell, Kennedy Wagner and Mia McGrath to force South Alabama to call timeout. Despite making the push, Clemson dropped set two, 25-20.
Clemson looked to respond in the third scoring the first two points of the set. South Alabama responded, going on a 10-2 scoring run, but the Tigers fought their way back to tie things up at 19-all. During this stretch, Powell led the Tigers clocking two kills and assisting on two blocks. Slavik reached her 4,000-assist milestone on a Dailey kill, as Dailey also provided two kills during this stretch. The Tigers made one final push with kills from Simington and Wagner but dropped the third set, 25-22.
Up Next
Clemson is back in action tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. facing off against Green Bay to conclude the Clemson Invitational.
