LAKE NONA, Fla. – For a match-clinching point, and especially for one against Florida A&M, Jose Plazas' final shot was incredibly anticlimactic.

After zooming back from a 5-2 deficit to take a 6-5 lead, Plazas' shot hit the net and then flopped onto the court with the smallest of bounces. The Bethune-Cookman senior looked at his opponent, Robert Hayden, with an almost apologetic expression.

"Serve and volley went better than I expected," Plazas said. "It is what it is."

Everything went better than expected for the Wildcats in their 5-2 victory over the Rattlers Thursday evening at the USTA National Campus. BCU (6-8 overall, 2-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) used a dominate doubles performance and focus throughout the first set of singles to keep alive a mathematical chance to take the Southern Division's No. 1 seed at the conference tournament later this month.

Oh, yeah, BCU beat the Rattlers for the first time since 2016 and the second recorded time in program history. Didn't forget that.

So convincing was the performance that even Head Coach Val Villucci thought her team "overachieved."

"We knew we had some places we might have been stronger at, but I thought FAMU came in with the advantage," Villucci said. ""We had strong doubles, contribution from the lower part of line up. It was very impressive."

The day belonged to Plazas and Juan Navarro, the No. 4 and No. 5 players in the BCU lineup.

They combined in doubles for a 6-1 victory that clinched the doubles points, then Navarro improved his conference-best record to 9-1 with a quick 6-3, 6-1 dispatching of Dimitri Bird that set the stage for Plazas' dramatics.

Plazas dominated his first set, but rallied for his 6-2, 7-5 decision that gave him his first career singles win over FAMU.

"Jose is playing with more confidence," Villucci said. "He was doubting his shots, but now he's hitting with conviction and that's making a bid difference."

Victor Bravo quietly and effectively gave BCU a 2-1 lead in singles with his win at No. 1. After the match was clinched, Victor Castro won his fifth straight singles decision.

BCU concludes its regular season on April 15 against South Carolina State.  If South Carolina State beats North Carolina Central this weekend, the Wildcats could work their way into a three-way tie with those two teams for the No. 1 tournament seed.
 
NOTES: This was Villucci's first victory over FAMU as the Men's Coach; her first win with the women came in 2017 … Bravo and Phillip Lynch are now 3-0 in doubles conference play while Castro, Navarro and Plazas are 3-0 in singles play … While Jonathan Thomas, a two-sport athlete who plays wide receiver for the football team, did not have success on the court Thursday, he can say he was a part of two teams that beat Florida A&M in the same year, joining the likes of the great Cy McClairen.