Defending champion Florida A&M survived a scare from Bethune-Cookman and emerged with a 3-2 (19-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-19, 15-12) win in the semifinals of the 2008 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Volleyball Championship on Saturday in Holland Hall on the campus of Hampton University.
The Lady Wildcats (10-17) came out strong in the first set, emerging with a 25-19 win. The Lady Rattlers responded by taking the second set 25-17, but Bethune-Cookman fought through the third set to win 25-23. Florida A&M (13-11) then took set four by a score by 25-19. Set five was a back and forth battle with Florida A&M winning the set 15-13 to advance to their ninth consecutive MEAC volleyball championship match.
Samara Ferraz led Florida A&M with 38 kills and a team-high .533 attack percentage. Jovana Blazeski tallied 15 kills, while Susan Egoavil had 66 of the team’s 70 assists. Egoavil also had a team-high 15 digs on defense and was one of four Lady Rattlers to record double-digit digs.
“It was a tough match, Bethune-Cookman really played well. Hopefully, we got our jitters out?as a young and inexperienced team, we had to make adjustments and we were really lucky to get it done today,” explained Lady Rattlers Head Coach Tony Trifonov. “After some rest and recovery we look forward to playing Maryland Eastern Shore.
Chelle Ticeson led Bethune-Cookman with 20 kills, while Reina Carson recorded 15 and had a team-best attack percentage of .464. Daryl Rodriguez had 25 assists for the Lady Wildcats, compared to 22 for teammate Julie Gibson. Jessica Wilson led Bethune-Cookman with 13 digs.
“It is a great feeling to go out with a bang, we worked together and we can feel good about our performance, everyone contributed and everyone had a great attitude. Just two points away from going to the finals will set the bar for us next year,” said Coach Vanessa Cogswell”
Florida A&M will face Maryland-Eastern Shore in a rematch of last year’s championship match Sunday at noon in Holland Hall.
For more information on the 2008 MEAC Volleyball Championship or other MEAC sponsored events, log on to www.MEACSports.com.