GRAMBLING, La. – Ktyal Price registered 12 kills and seven blocks Friday afternoon in helping No. 4 seed Bethune-Cookman defeat No. 5 seed Texas Southern, 3-1 at Hobdy Assembly Center on the campus of Grambling State in the quarterfinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Volleyball Tournament in Grambling, Louisiana. B-CU collected the win on scores of 25-21, 18-25, 25-20, 25-18.
 
Price, a fifth-year middle blocker from Robbinsdale, Minnesota, was one of three different Wildcats to achieve double figures in kills on the day. She placed four kills in the opening set for Bethune-Cookman (15-13) en route to hitting .471 in the process.
 
Texas Southern (10-19) used four kills each from the duo of Gracie Hill and Taryn Stafford in the opener as the Tigers led 20-16 late in the set. Similar to this season's previous meeting between the two sides in Houston, Bethune-Cookman answered with an 8-0 run off the serve of sophomore setter Gianna Mora to put the Cats ahead, 24-20.
 
A Price kill and block led to a TSU timeout, followed immediately by junior outside hitter Tiyanna Preston combining with Price for a block to knot the score at 20-20. A Tigers attack error put B-CU ahead, while two additional attack errors and a Jasmine Robinson (SWAC Newcomer of the Year) kill allowed B-CU a 24-20 lead. Robinson's kill moments later eventually closed the set.
 
Hill amassed five kills in the second set for the Tigers as TSU hit .262 as a team, while B-CU hit just .040 in the frame.
 
With the match tied at 1-1, B-CU responded in the third set with three service aces and four blocks, collectively.
 
Price tallied three blocks and teammate junior middle blocker Ariel "AJ" Simmons supplied two blocks of her own. The set saw eight ties and five lead changes before a 7-1 run off the serve of Elizabeth Phillips and All-SWAC First Team selection Niara Hightower (SWAC Blocker of the Year), would see B-CU take advantage of two Tigers attack errors while Hightower and Phillips each recorded a service ace, respectively.
 
Another Price kill and an assisted block alongside Simmons would push the Maroon and Gold in front courtesy the 25-20 set win.
 
The Cats hit their best mark as a unit in the fourth frame with a .326 clip in posting 17 kills on 43 attacks.
 
Phillips and Price each registered five kills in the set. Junior middle blocker Mecca Freeman added two assisted blocks as well with Bethune-Cookman limiting TSU to just a .167 hitting performance in the final frame.
 
The Tigers were led in the match by Hill with 15 kills, as well as Stafford (11) in double figures. Kennedi Walker had a match-high 40 assists. And SWAC Libero of the Year Angelika Rusin pulled in 17 digs.
 
Bethune-Cookman received 13 kills from Robinson, while Price (12) and Phillips (10) also had double-digits in the kills category. Setters Mora and freshman Nola Hemphill each put up 21 assists. Sophomore libero Sydni Poston was the leader in digs with a season-high 25 – giving her back-to-back matches with 20-plus digs. Price also had seven blocks as Hightower ended with six.
 
The Wildcats will face No. 1 seed Florida A&M in the semifinals Saturday at 2 p.m. CT back inside Hobdy Assembly Center on the campus of Grambling State – host of this year's event.
 
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