The 2017 season was arduous for the Miles volleyball team, as a young roster and uneven play led to the Lady Bears failing to qualify for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament for the first time in four years.

But in front of a raucous Senior Night crowd that saw the final performances from Skyler Johnson and Alexis Reed, this group was still able to create a moment that will make this season a memorable one for the volleyball program. After dropping the first two sets, the Lady Bears stormed back to take a five-set victory over Tuskegee (30-32, 22-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-13) Wednesday night at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. It was the first win for the Lady Bears (7-20, 4-14 SIAC) over the Golden Tigers (6-26, 5-13) since the 2011 season - a span of 13 matches - and the first win at home since 2006, a victory that was later vacated.

Johnson (13 kills, 10 digs, four blocks, two aces) and Reed (seven kills, five blocks - one solo) were fantastic in earning their first wins over Tuskegee in their final try. But it was a total team effort that was needed against the Golden Tigers, a team that had already secured a win over Miles on Oct. 30.

A foreshadowing of the entire match may have come in the first set, where Miles held a 24-20 advantage and served to take an early lead in the match. But Tuskegee had other ideas, fighting off seven set points to come back and grab the opening set. The circumstances were eerily similar to the teams' first match this season, when the Lady Bears were on serve with a six-point led but ultimately lost the set en route to a sweep that eliminated them from postseason contention.

When Tuskegee took the second set, it appeared that Miles was going to suffer anther defeat at the hands of their in-state rival. But the Golden Tigers made a multitude of errors in the third set to help the Lady Bears stay alive. The fourth set saw Johnson go to work. She hammered six kills that as Miles hit .261 (10-4-23) in pushing the game towards a deciding set.

The fifth set was a see-saw battle, as Miles made some early errors but grabbed the lead before Tuskegee led 8-7 as the teams switched sides. Down 12-10, though, the Lady Bears fought through and when Breanna Edwards-Demars (4-1-5, .600) spiked one home, it ended the long losing streak to the Golden Tigers and sent the team into the offseason with something to build upon.

Miles got strong performances from Tatiyana Thomas (31 assists, 10 digs, five aces), Na'Kina Levingston (eight kills, five blocks - two solo - and five digs), D'Nautica Johnson (15 digs), and Shatesa Harris (five kills, six blocks - two solo). SeQueena Baldwin had 13 kills, Brianna Fisher had 32 assists and 11 digs, and Zahria Radford had 14 digs for Tuskegee.