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Outside attack Kaelen Ingram delivered a season-best performance in a rematch of the 2022 SIAC Tournament finals.
Ingram finished with both a match-high six aces and 17 kills on a .333 attack percentage as Edward Waters defeated Central State 25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 25-16 on Thursday in Jacksonville, Florida, to open the SIAC season.
The sophomore from Belize had three kills as part of 5-1 run to start the match and finished the opening-game win leading all players with seven kills. In addition, Ingram early in the fourth game had three aces in a four-play span to help the Tigers (3-1, 1-0 SIAC) win their third consecutive match.
Edward Waters rallied from hitting negative-.025 in its third-game loss and had a match-best .381 attack percentage in the final game. The Tigers hit more than .300 in two of the four games and for the match out-hit the Marauders .195 to .171.
Along with Ingram, opposite Evens Edouardo had 15 kills and outside attacker Bryan Pepen added eight kills against Central State (7-11, 0-1 SIAC).
Edward Waters finished with 12 aces – nine more aces than Central State. Setter Kenyon Haynes had three aces, including a walk-off ace to cap off a 10-5 run that closed out the match.
Haynes also led the Tigers defensively with 11 digs.
Libero Victor Scherer in the loss finished with a match-high 19 digs.
Outside attacker Cameron Lee had a team-high 16 kills but was limited to a .191 attack percentage. Lee was the only Central State player to have double-digit kills as the loss ended the Marauders’ four-match winning streak.
This was the first meeting between the two teams since Central State defeated Edward Waters in five games in the SIAC Tournament finals last season to win the inaugural conference championship. Both teams were atop the 2023 SIAC Preseason Coaches Poll with Edward Waters finishing in first place.