The Florida A&M Lady Rattlers defeated the North Carolina A&T Lady Aggies in straight sets (25-9 W, 25-14 W, 25-21 W) Sunday at the Al Lawson Center. The team improved its record to 2-11 (2-1 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) on the season and the Lady Aggies are now ( 0-20, 0-3 MEAC) this season.
In the first two sets, the Rattler defense made it hard for the Lady Aggies to get in a rhythm, as they held the Lady Aggies to hitting percentages of -0.38 and -.133. The Lady Rattlers took the Lady Aggies out of the team’s comfort zone, said Lady Aggies head coach Hal Clifton.
“We were out of system and we couldn’t get good swings on the ball,” Clifton said. “We didn’t have many options to attack because of their defense.”
The Lady Rattlers got off to a fast start and were consistent throughout. Head coach Tony Trifonov said he hopes the team continues its winning streak as conference play continues.
“We’ve been lacking confidence earlier on in this season and hopefully this game gives us more,” Trifonov said. “It’s important for our team to start well early because if we don’t our confidence seems to go down and then we fall into a hole that we can’t get out of. Consistency is vital to this team.”
Outside Hitter Biacna Rucker said this performance has her believing that FAMU can still be a conference power in the MEAC.
“This game means we still continue to dominate in this conference. By beating teams 3-0, we still feel we can be a force to be reckoned with in the conference,” Rucker said. “We were able to get more into rhythm and we changed our setters from Diana Gonzales to Marija Jovanovic. Our defense has to make our setters feel more comfortable, but we did a good job today.”
The team collectively had 44 kills in the game and held its opponent to 19 kills. Outside Hitter Maria Ceccarelli led the team with 14 kills. Pamela Barrea and Andrea Soriano had nine kills as well to lead the Lady Rattlers to victory.
The team wants to extend its winning streak as they gear up for another MEAC opponent. The Lady Rattlers’ next game is tonight against the Lady Eagles of North Carolina Central at the Al Lawson Center.