FORT VALLEY, Ga. – The celebration is on as the Wildcats are heading to the tournament! At the match-deciding set, Fort Valley State outscored Clark Atlanta down the stretch, outlasted the home team to a 3-2 victory and clinched its first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Tournament berth in 16 years.

All wins of the court were recorded on the same side the entire night. The Wildcats finished the match on the winning side. Trailing 8-7 at the turn to switch sides in the fifth set, Antonique Coleman and Dakotah Holmes downed kills around a CAU attack error and edged in front for good, 10-8. Following a Panther kill, the same two Wildcat hitters hit another winner apiece. A third Coleman kill preceded back-to-back Panther attack errors ending the match, 15-10, and the Wildcat playoff celebration was on!

FVSU started out on the 'hot side' of the floor with a 25-20 win before dropping the next set by the same 20-25 final. The Wildcats won Set 3, 25-16, but the Panthers forced the extra set with a 21-25 set number four score.

With the victory, FVSU advances for the first time since 2008 to next week's SIAC Championship Tournament. The Wildcats improved to its best record of 14-7 since the same 2008 campaign ended at 19-14, and more importantly completed the regular season at 12-7 in the SIAC East.

FVSU (12-7) will finish no worse than second in the SIAC East and can move up to the No. 2 seed if Benedict College (11-7) defeats Savannah State (12-6) on Saturday evening.

The SIAC Tournament runs from next Thursday through Saturday (Nov. 21-23) at the East Division top seed Albany State.

In Friday's match, Coleman downed a season-high 12 kills with two errors in 26 swings for a .385 attack percentage to go with three blocks and three digs. Her fellow middle blocker, Nia Mack, hit a vital six kills of her own with one error in 12 attacks at a .417 rate with three blocks and four digs.

Holmes added seven kills and 16 digs and Benaye Kyle chipped in seven kills, 12 digs and an ace. Laila Hilton and Brooke Matthews had four and three kills.

Laiani McCullough set her way to a double-double of 18 assists and 18 digs, while Jahyra Thomas handed out 15 assists, six digs and an ace. Sarah Rosario dug 12 attacks, served four aces and had four assists.

-Wildcats-