DURHAM, N.C. -- Alondra Bautista had 21 kills and Alana Handy set a school record with 33 digs as Bethune-Cookman closed the regular season with a 3-1 (25-16,23-25,25-17,25-22) Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Southern Division victory at North Carolina Central Sunday afternoon.

The Wildcats (12-13 overall, 9-1 conference) clinched the division's No. 1 seed for next week's conference tournament at Maryland-Eastern Shore. Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M split their matches, but the Wildcats earned the tiebreaker by virtue of sets  won (4-3) in head-to-head play.

Bautista, a senior, added 10 digs for her eighth double-double of the season, her third 20-kill match of the season and fifth consecutive double-figure kill match. She delivered the kill on match point after the Eagles (4-19,4-6) had closed to 23-22, but lost momentum after a net serve.

Handy, a sophomore, eclipsed the previous mark of 28 set in 2007 by Alyse Guzman against South Carolina State.
After dropping the second set, Bethune-Cookman jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the third set and took its biggest lead at 19-11 on a Rakaya Neely service ace.

In the fourth set, the Wildcats took an early 11-5 lead and fended off the Eagle rally.

Senior Jai Chapman had a career-high 14 kills and added 12 digs for a double-double. Neely finished with 10 kills and five blocks while setter Phalen Clark posted 50 assists and three blocks.

Whitney White led the Eagles with 18 kills.

This is the second time in three years Bethune-Cookman will enter the tournament as the No. 1 Southern seed.

HEAD COACH BRITTANY WILLIAMS

"It definitely feels good to redeem ourselves from last year as we felt like we left some things undone. This team faced a lot of adversity this season and took head-on and focused on one of our two goals -- going in with a number one seed."

"Handy has stepped up and been great for us defensively. She was a libero for a state championship high school team, so we knew she could do the job."

ALANA HANDY
"Watching film, I studied their hitters and their angles of attack. I followed the game plan and executed it the best I could.  I've been given an opportunity to play libero and I'm trying to make the most of it."

NOTES: This was Clark's third 50 assist match ... Neely is now 34-6 against MEAC Southern Division opponents ... The Lady Wildcats are 11-3 in November in the Williams era ... In all nine MEAC Southern victories, B-CU held its opponents under .125 hitting.