DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After a three-match road trip, Bethune-Cookman returns back to campus for a homecoming weekend Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Southern Division swing with Savannah State coming to Moore Gym Friday at 3 p.m. and South Carolina State Sunday at 1 p.m.
Friday's match will include an alumni recognition between the second and third set while Sunday will be Senior Day, with pre-match ceremonies honoring
Rechez Lindsay,
Jai Chapman,
Phalen Clark,
Rakaya Neely,
Jessica Emile and
Alondra Bautista.
The Wildcats (8-11 overall, 5-0 MEAC) have dropped their last three matches – all on the road -- to Florida Gulf Coast, ranked just outside the top 100 in RPI and at Howard and Maryland-Eastern Shore, the two top teams in the MEAC's Northern Dvision. Those two setbacks, however, did not count against B-CU in league standings.
Friday's match resumes Southern Division play with the Wildcats leading Florida A&M by one match, with North Carolina A&T (3-2) and North Carolina Central (3-3) nearby.
In addition to Senior Day, Sunday's match will also be B-CU's regular season home finale. The Wildcats are 4-2 in Moore Gym this season, 3-0 against MEAC teams.
B-CU UPDATE: The Wildcats maintain their status as the MEAC team leaders in digs (16.18 per set) and blocks (2.36 per set) while battling Howard for the assist (HU leads 11.79 per set to 11.78) and kills (HU again, 12.77 per set to 12.34) … Neely leads the MEAC in blocks (1.07 per set) and hitting percentage (.363) … Clark leads in assists (10.12) … Freshman
Jordan Jefferson is fifth in kills (3.21 per set) while fellow freshman
Faith Landreneaux is seventh in hitting percentage (2.83) and fourth in blocks (.95) …Lindsay is 2
nd in digs (3.93) … In conference matches, Bautista is the league's fourth leading scorer at 4.03 points per set…The Wildcats are still within range of posting the first winning season since 2004's 14-12 … B-CU is 22-3 in MEAC Southern Division play in the
Brittany Williams era … Neely's picture on the NCAA volleyball Instagram following her .800 hitting percentage night at Howard has over 2,000 likes …Clark remains fifth on the all-time assist list (1,212) and is on pace for a top-five single-season assist total … Neely needs five kills to pass Javanne Johnson's 722 for ninth on the all-time list.
SAVANNAH STATE UPDATE: B-CU won the first meeting this season 3-0 in Savannah with
Alana Handy posting 10 kills … The Wildcats lead the all-time series 35-0 … The Tigers (3-2-,1-5) have lost their last two matches after beating SCSU on the road … Jennifer Rosado (112 kills) and Amani Rulan Vilanova (111) are the primary offensive weapons.
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UPDATE: B-CU won the first meeting 3-0 in Orangeburg with Neely and Landreneaux posting nine kills and the team hitting .318 … The Wildcats have won the last meetings and lead the series 32-17 … Their Friday night match at FAMU will be their first since the SSU match on 10/13 … The Bulldogs (1-20,1-5) are led by Alexus Holt's 218 kills.
WEEKEND COVERAGE: Cateye Network will videocast both matches, with
Nolan Alexander handling play-by-play on Friday … links to Cateye and live stats can be found on bcuathletics.com … and follow our official twitter feeds -- @bcuathletics and @bcuvolleyball – for in-match updates.
