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Outside attacker Jaxon Hicks on a senior night when Fort Valley State unveiled its 2024 SIAC championship banner showed exactly why the Wildcats are the defending champions.
Hicks finished with a season-high 15 kills on a .538 attack percentage as Fort Valley State defeated Edward Waters 23-25, 25-14, 25-14, 25-15 on Wednesday to take sole possession of first place in the SIAC.
Both Fort Valley State and Edward Waters entered the final week of conference play undefeated in the SIAC. The Wildcats with this victory clinched at least a share of the conference regular season title.
Hicks opened the senior night victory with a game-high seven kills in the first game. The outside attacker also did not commit an attack error in the final three games and delivered a walk-off ace to help secure the win in front of a home crowd of 410 people.
Fort Valley State out-hit Edward Waters .398 to .155 and had three players with both double-digit kills and at least a .500 attack percentage.
Outside attacker Isaiah Fedd coming off the bench after the first game had a match-high 16 kills on a .667 attack percentage.
Middle attacker Taviian Martin added 10 kills and one error on a .529 attack percentage against Edward Waters. In addition, Martin had two kills and back-to-back aces as part of a 9-1 run to close out the second game.
Fedd led all players with four aces, including back-to-back aces to help the Wildcats jump out to a seven-point lead early in the fourth game.
Edward Waters pin-hitter Richard Hendricks in the loss had a match-high 17 kills, while Rojey Hutchinson contributed 14 kills No other Tiger, though, had more than four kills in their first conference loss of the season.
Edward Waters and Fort Valley State will conclude their home-and-home series on Saturday with the Wildcats having a chance to clinch an outright conference regular season title.
Fort Valley State also is attempting to go undefeated in SIAC play for the second consecutive season. The Wildcats are on a 22-match conference winning streak dating back to the start of last season.