Oct. 13, 2010

Box Score

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Looking down a seven-game losing skid, the prospect of reigning MEAC champion Florida A&M coming to town may not have looked very enticing as a matchup. However, the LadyCats of Bethune-Cookman came to play and showed the crowd on hand a very inspired performance, despite the loss. Even with recent losses, the LadyCats have shown great improvements in recent games, pushing opponents as far as they could go and still come out of Moore Gymnasium with a win. Wednesday evening was no different, even more so, as the Lady Rattlers emerged on top 3-1 in sets of 25-23, 25-23, (W) 27-25, and 25-20.

As the match opened, the LadyCats looked as though they may be overmatched, up against the bevy of international players on FAMU Head Coach Tony Trifonov's roster. They quickly fell into a hole, down 13-6 before B-CU showed any signs of life. However, with a block here and a block there, the LadyCats quietly crawled back in, fueled by two four-point runs late in the set, knotting up the score at 22-22. Tied at 23, an opportunity appeared with Kaiyana Johnson at serve. She went for the far back right corner, and missed the edge of the vacated area by probably a couple of inches. It was high-risk, high-reward, but it put FAMU on top, and they quickly finished the set with a striking kill, 25-23.

Set two was much closer in the early going, but B-CU had to fight against FAMU scoring runs in mid-set, moving a little bit at a time toward their biggest lead of five. Four kills and a FAMU attack error later, and they were very much back in the action. The LadyCats traded scores with the Lady Rattlers after making the tie at 21 once again, but unforced errors proved costly, keeping B-CU from gaining the advantage, as FAMU held of the rally for the 25-23 win.

Feeling the match slip from them, B-CU came out tough in the third, claiming their first true lead of the match at 4-3. FAMU was not prepared to go away, as the match featured 16 ties and five lead changes. Though B-CU maintained the upper hand, FAMU forced four ties in the final five, bringing the set to extra points. B-CU finished off the Lady Rattlers with a solid kill and a FAMU attack error to win 27-25.

With the score close early in the fourth, B-CU again let FAMU drift away from them in mid-set, falling behind by as many as five. But this time, after the three intense sets, B-CU was unable to respond with the same ferocity. The Lady Rattlers kept the LadyCats at an arm's length throughout the match, and outscored B-CU 4-2 in the closing minutes to fend off another late-set rally. FAMU went on to win 25-20 and take the match victory 3-1.

The LadyCats recorded 62 kills in the match, out-killing FAMU (55 kills) and hit well at .203 as a team. However, the LadyCats also recorded 26 errors in the match, compared with FAMU's 16. B-CU spread the hitting and the defense around very well, executing the system at a high level. Four players registered nine or more kills, while four players also had more than 10 digs. However, it was the unforced errors that sealed the match in FAMU's favor.

Kaiyana Johnson and Kat Agson hit .350 and recorded nine kills. Both Wilson and Davis also stepped up on defense, logging 13 and 11 digs respectively. Jacqueline Woodyear stepped it up tonight, making amazing saves to record a career-high 25 digs for the LadyCats.