As their trek towards another Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship continues, the Rattlerettes have improved their record to 16-4 with Friday’s win over Morgan State University.
This victory catapulted the team into a great position for obtaining the conference title.
“Every game’s important because we’re getting ready for the conference,” said Head Coach Tony Trifonov.
The team came out strong going on a four point run before Morgan’s Lady Bears even got on the scoreboard.
Freshman Adriana Kostadinova led the team with a kill from the weakside hitting position before rotating to serve up five points and two aces. The Rattlerettes continued to dominate the game forcing MSU to call a timeout at 16-4 in a vain attempt to halt the run.
They were unsuccessful because FAMU went on to score two more points.
Junior setter Delisha Peterson contributed two aces of her own to put her team at twenty points. The Rattlerettes were assisted by the Lady Bears’ .074 hitting percentage and four missed serves, which put them over the top, 30-19.
“We didn’t play well at all,” remarked MSU’s Head Coach Ramona Riley-Bozier. “We’ve played much better than this, and I thought we’d keep the fans on the edge of their seats wondering which way [the game] would go; but I don’t make excuses, we just played poorly.”
After taking over game one, the Rattlerettes came out lackadaisical in game two. They had to fight for each point and were playing catch-up at certain points of the game. “We relaxed a little in the second game and lost intensity in the game,” Trifonov said.
Coach Trifonov resorted to numerous substitutions and used both of his timeouts to try to shake his team out of its rut.
Senior co-captain Fiorella Aita Junek stepped up the team’s intensity by adding five of her game leading eleven kills and an ace to push the Rattlerettes closer to victory.
The game finished on a FAMU kill by freshman Andreina Ruiz.
Regaining its momentum, FAMU’s volleyball team took control of game three by jumping out to an early lead. Aita Junek delivered three straight kills early on as the team capitalized on many free ball situations.
Setting the third game was sophomore Mariela Portocarrero. She amounted for thirteen assists after replacing Peterson who left the game with eighteen assists.
The third game ended 30-18 with a kill from Kostadinova who followed up Aita Junek’s signature back slide attack.
Both teams were undefeated in the MEAC and the Rattlerettes proved who should be at the top. They gave moved to a ninth place ranking in the east region.
The Rattlerettes face the Jacksonville Dolphins Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Gaither Gymnasium. FAMU defeated them 3-1 when the teams met in Jacksonville on Oct. 8.
“They’re a good team,” said Aita Junek. “We can’t lose any more to be in the same national rank.”