There were times Sunday night at Corbett Sports Center where it appeared the North Carolina A&T volleyball team had what it took to make the seven-time defending MEAC Champions worry.
And then there were those other times. The Aggies competed most of the night with Florida A&M, but Rattlers had too much fire power and the Aggies had too many mishaps in crucial moments as the Rattlers won their 98th straight MEAC regular-season match with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-16) win in front of a nationally-televised audience watching on ESPNU.
Junior hitter Tiffany Mellette led the Aggies with 10 kills and had a hitting percentage of .200, her best of the season. Freshman middle Breanne Dotstry added five blocks, while junior Janae Mitchell finished with seven kills and eight digs.
Heading the Rattlers fire power was Samara Ferraz who finished with 13 kills and a .391 hitting percentage. The other thorn in the Aggies side Sunday was Jovana Blazeski with 11 kills and six digs.
“We’re just simply not where we need to be mentally,’’ said N.C. A&T head coach Lyndsay Schmiedel. “We play well in spurts and then we breakdown and make mental errors. I think physically we have what it takes to be a good volleyball team. Mentally, we’re just not there.”
The Aggies trailed the Rattlers 24-19 in the first set before junior defensive specialist started an Aggies rally with a service ace. Malone’s ace was followed by an attack error by FAMU’s Maria Gomez and block assists from Mitchell and Avignon Williams to move the Aggies to within two at 24-22.
But a service error by the Aggies gave the Rattlers the first set. The Rattlers opened up a 20-9 lead in the second set before the Aggies battled back and were within three, 23-20 after Mitchell slammed down a kill from the back row. But back-to-back Gomez kills ended any hopes the Aggies had of rallying to take the set.
After dropping the third set to the Rattlers, the Aggies put their hopes of making the 2008 MEAC Tournament into jeopardy. The Aggies (3-18) are 0-3 in the MEAC South and must play the two top teams ? Bethune-Cookman and FAMU ? on the road. The top four teams from each division, the MEAC North and South, advance to the tournament. The Aggies have crucial week ahead with a 6 p.m., home match against Norfolk State on Oct. 17 and a road match with S.C. State Sunday afternoon in Orangeburg, S.C.