Florida A&M dropped a hard fought 3-0 decision (25-20, 25-21, 25-15) to #11 ranked University of Florida in the opening round of the 2008 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championships at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Friday night.
“We fought hard today and out of all the Florida A&M teams I’ve had, this team came the closest to taking a game off of Florida.... In the first and second games, we had some unforced errors that cost us the chance of having a little bit of a closer game,” said 12th year head coach Tanio “Tony” Trifonov.
FAMU (14-13) was led by senior Samara Ferraz with 15 kills, followed by sophomore Jovana Blazeski with 11 kills. Sophomore Susan Egoavil finished with a match-high 30 assists, while Maria Gomez finished with a team high six digs.
In the opening set, the Lady Rattlers turned and error by the Gators’ Cindy Bathelt, and a pair of Ferraz kills into an early 3-0 lead.
UF scored three straight points to tie the score on a pair of kills by Cassandra Anderson and Kelsey Bowers and a FAMU attack error. The Gators would later go on a 4-0 run to take a 13-9 lead.
FAMU responded with a 6-2 run to tie the score at 15-15 on a pair of service aces by Gomez and Chelsea Pennick, followed by kills by Gomez, Ferraz and Jovana Blazeski and a Florida service error.
The Lady Rattlers would tie the score again at 17 all on a kill by Cynthia Corzo, but Florida went on a 5-1 run to take a 22-18 lead.
A service ace by Gomez and a kill by Ferraz would cut the Gators’ lead to 23-20, but a kill by Callie Rivers and a FAMU attack error would give UF a 25-20 win in set one.
In the second set, Florida started with a 4-0 run, capped by a Cassandra Anderson kill, then extended their lead to 7-2 on a Kelly Murphy kill.
UF would build their lead to as much nine points, 15-6 lead, capping their surge on a Bathelt kill.
“When, we got in a hole of eight or nine points, it’s really difficult to come back against a good team like Florida,” said Trifonov.
The Lady Rattlers would then come roaring back as they went on a 11-4 run to cut the Gators’ lead to 19-17 on Blazeski kill.
But a Kelly Murphy kill would eventually give the Gators the win in set two, 25-21.
UF took an early 7-2 lead to begin set three, and would then extend their lead to 10-3 on a Lauren Bledsoe kill.
The Lady Rattlers’ would then cut Gators’ lead to 19-12 on pair of kills by Ferraz. That would be closest that FAMU would get, as a kill by UF’s Anderson would cap the Gators’ 6-3 run that clinched the Gators a 25-15 win.
FAMU finished the match with a .231 hitting percentage on 37 kills in 97 total attacks with 21 errors, while UF finished with a .451 hitting percentage on 39 kills in 71 total attacks with just seven errors.
UF (26-3) was led by Cassandra Anderson, who finished with a .909 hitting percentage, by tallying 10 kills in 11 digs.
The Gators advance to play Colorado State, tomorrow at the O’Connell Center in a 7:30 p.m. start, with the winner moving on to the regional round next weekend at Colorado State.