The Florida A&M Lady Rattlers volleyball team remained undefeated in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference as they swept rival Bethune-Cookman University (25-14, 25-20, 25-18).
Head coach Tanio “Tony” Trifonov spoke about the teams unbeaten streak in the MEAC.
“It was our goal to have all three wins in the first half of the season,” Trifonov said. “We’re the only unbeaten in the MEAC South and right now we’re accomplishing our goal.”
In the first set the Lady Rattlers (7-10, 5-0 MEAC) took a commanding 10-2 lead after the Lady Wildcats (6-15, 4-1 MEAC) came out slow. There were a lot miscues on the behalf of B-CU, sophomore middle blocker Dei’ja Martin kept the Wildcats out of the game with her defense.
Freshman outside hitter Pamela Soriano described the tough second set.
“We had a lot of confidence going to into the second set after winning the first set,” Soriano said. “Coming out we knew they were going to play strong.”
Soriano ended the game with a game-high 14 kills and also had three digs on the night.
Throughout the second set the Lady Rattlers and Lady Wildcats traded points before a Lady Wildcats timeout. The Lady Wildcats made a small run before Soriano and junior outside hitter Sydni Etheredge saved the day with three key kills to close the set.
Following the intermission, the Lady Rattlers focused on putting the game away, but the Lady Wildcats held their own. In the middle of the second set, the Lady Rattlers called timeout as the Lady Wildcats started to pull away with the score at 10-7.
After the timeout the Lady Rattlers slowly started to make their comeback beginning with a five-point run that stemmed from solid defense and key offensive rallies. The Lady Rattlers were able to keep putting points on the board rallying back to win the set and secure the victory.
Etheredge felt the team showed resolve in their performance after the game.
“The team felt really strong and we were ready to win,” Etheredge said. “So we had to get it done.”
The Lady Rattlers volleyball team will travel to Ft. Myers to face Florida Gulf Coast University in a non-conference matchup. Time for the game has yet to be determined.