By Roscoe Nance
The volleyball season gets underway Friday with a pair of familiar faces - Florida A&M and Maryland Eastern Shore - out front in the championship race and two newcomers in the field that's chasing them.
Defending MEAC Southern Division champion Florida A&M has won an unprecedented 13 conference championships, including the last nine in a row; Maryland Eastern Shore has won the Northern Division title the past two seasons only to fall to the Lady Rattlers in the championship match. Both are predicted to win their divisions again.
North Carolina Central, a charter member of the MEAC, and Savannah State have joined the conference. As provisional members, neither is eligible for the championship and their matches against MEAC opponents will not count toward conference standings.
All teams will be action this Friday (August 27), during the opening weekend. Coppin State competes in the Western Carolina University Tournament. Hampton hosts the Tiny Laster Invitational, which has South Carolina State and Maryland Eastern Shore in the field; North Carolina A&T is in the High Point Tournament; Norfolk State hosts Navy, UNC-Greensboro, Providence and Kent State in the Spartan Classic; Morgan State participates in the Courtyard by Marriott Invitational in Pittsburgh; Howard competes in the WVU Invitational in Morgantown, W.Va.; Florida A&M hosts New Mexico State, Florida International and South Florida,; North Carolina Central hosts Hilton RTP/NCCU Tournament, which includes Delaware State, and Savannah State hosts Talladega and Brewton Parker in the Lady Tiger Invitational.
Florida A&M has been virtually unbeatable in conference play in Tony Trifonov's 13 seasons as coach with a 123-3 record. Trifonov is cautiously optimistic about the Lady Rattlers' prospects for 2010.
"We don't know how strong we'll be,'' Trifonov says. "We're going to be very young. This will be a rebuilding year.''
Maria Gomez is expected to be the Lady Rattlers' only senior starter. Preseason first team junior All-MEAC libero Susan Egoavil will be counted on to provide leadership as Trifonov goes with a number of newcomers in key roles.
"We will rely on even contributions and a team effort this year,'' Trifonov says. "We're not going to rely on one person. There is not a veteran player and not a young player.
Whoever is better will have a key role. In order for us to be successful, each player has to contribute to the team. The chemistry needs to be there. New players need to get acquainted with the style and the level of competition.''
The Lady Rattlers have a demanding non-conference schedule, which includes six teams that are in preseason Top 25 or received votes. Trifonov hopes it will have them in top form when conference play begins in October.
"We will be challenged very early on,'' Trifonov says. "We'll see how good we can be.''
Maryland Eastern Shore has put together a two-year run worthy of top billing in most conferences. During that period, the Lady Hawks have had consecutive 20-win seasons, are unbeaten in MEAC matches and haven't lost a single set in regular season conference play.
"We're proud of what we've accomplished,'' third-year Lady Hawks coach Don Metil says, adding that it will be difficult for his team to continue at such a high level this season because of its youth.
The Lady Hawks' 2010 roster includes nine new players, which lead Metil to wonder why they were picked to win the Northern Division title again.
"I'm always leery about predictions,'' he says. "It is what it is, preseason predictions. We're very young. With nine new girls, we're trying to learn everything we can.''
Metil says a problem area for the Lady Hawks this season could be ball control on serves, one of their strong suits in the past.
Metil acknowledges that losing to Florida A&M in the championship match is monkey of the team's back. However, he says the Lady Hawks aren't focusing on beating the Lady Rattlers and looking past the rest of the conference.
"We've never overlooked anybody,'' he says. "We won't be able to walk over anybody in the conference. The other teams are stronger and we're a lot weaker.''
North Carolina Central is entering its fourth season of Division I competition. The Eagles are expected to be in the thick of things when they become eligible for the conference championship. They advanced to the Division II Atlantic Region Championship each of their final three seasons in the CIAA. They were 32-13 - the most victories in school history - and won the CIAA Tournament Championship in 2007, their final year in Division II.
The Lady Eagles (9-23), who return 11 letter winners and four starters from last year's squad, are playing their most competitive schedule ever. Their opponents include Duke and Minnesota, both of whom were in the 2009 NCAA Championship, as well as nine MEAC foes. The Eagles will appear in five tournaments, including the UMES Hawk Invitational. They will face the Maryland Eastern Shore, the host, and MEAC members Coppin State and Hampton.
Savannah State is coming off an 11-19 season. Second-year coach Malik Jones has focused on improving the Lady Tigers' speed and passing while preparing them for a more difficult schedule, which includes MEAC opponents North Carolina A&T, Norfolk State and Bethune-Cookman.
The conference welcomes two new coaches this season, Dawn Barnes at Howard and Brandon Duvall, who takes over the job on an interim basis at Norfolk State.
Barnes was formerly a volunteer assistant at the University of Pittsburgh. She also has been an assistant Augustana College (Ill.), Eastern Kentucky and Vassar. Barnes has on hand six starters from the Lady Bison squad that was 8-27 in 2009 as she tries to re-energize the program. The Lady Bison are long on experience with four senior starters, including outside hitter Gazelle d'Artois - the 2010 MEAC Preseason Player of the Year - and libero Nicole Brown. Brown was second team All-MEAC selection in 2009.
Duvall, an assistant coach at Norfolk State the previous two seasons, inherits a young team at Norfolk State. The Spartans return seven starters but have only one senior and two juniors on their roster.
"Even though we only have one senior on the team, we have a good core group of returners," Duvall says. "All went through a lot last year learning how to lead a team and be a more positive influence on the floor."