The women’s volleyball team sent the Spartans of Norfolk State University back to Virginia winless Saturday. This match marked the Rattlerettes 42nd consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference win.
The Rattlerettes maintained a wide lead against NSU (0-11 overall, 0-5
conference) during all three games, winning them, 30-3, 30-7 and 30-16.
They found holes in the Spartans game and were quick to fill them with venom.
Kills from Fiorella Aita Junek, Giulianna Velorio and Ivelina Petkova (cq), who each had eight, sent the Spartans scrambling.
Though the Spartans tried to inch up to the Rattlerettes’ widening lead during the second game, the venom proved too much for Norfolk State, who is ranked last in the country.
Although the Spartans were a relatively easy team to defeat, there was an unseen challenge, said Anisha Nicholson, 20, a senior early education student from Long Beach, Calif.
“It’s hard to keep your intensity up when you’re playing a lower level,” she said. “You have to keep your practice level up.”
She also said that although the Rattlerettes won this game, the team’s serves could have been improved.
Head coach Tony Trifonov said that despite the huge win, there were some things that could have been done better.
“(The biggest problem was) dropped concentration,” he said. “It’s difficult to concentrate when you know you have to win.
There were points where the girls completely stopped playing, as the team’s biggest focus during the game was not adding anyone else to an already long injury list.
“We’ve had a lot of bad luck lately with our starters,” Trifonov said. “Three of them are out and we’re trying to get a lineup for the game against Virginia.”
The Rattlerettes take on the University of Virginia Saturday in Jacksonville.