TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Nov.13) The FAMU Lady Rattlers (11-12, 9-1 MEAC) blanked the B-CU Lady Wildcats (12-18,6-4 MEAC) 3-0 in MEAC action today in the Alfred Lawson Jr. Multipurpose Center and Teaching Gymnasium. The win clinched the MEAC Southern division title for the Lady Rattlers.
The Lady Rattlers won 25-23, 25-17 and 25-16. After a slow start, FAMU got on a roll and fended off the resurgent Lady Wilcats. Three Lady Rattlers finished with double digit kills. Katherine Huanec finished with 15, Maria Ceccarelli carded 11 and Pamela Barrera scored 10. As a team, FAMU hit .323 on the day, on 44-for-93 attempts.
Diana Gonzales has seemingly hit her stride, dishing out 36 assists. The errors that were prevalent at the beginning of the season have seemingly been rectified, centering around the settling of Gonzales. Karol Marquez also had a solid day in the middle with 19 digs.
The Wildcats, would not go easily. Leading several times in the first set, B-CU was paced by Krysta Gardner with 16 kills. Janeen Davis added 10 kills. Aubrianna Curtis dished out 23 assists for the Lady Wildcats. Jennifer Jimenez pulled out 10 digs.
The Lady Rattlers, will head into the MEAC tournament with the No.1 seed in the Southern division. The Rattlers were tied with South Carolina State as of Friday, but an upset victory in Orangeburg, by the NCCU Lady Eagles gave the Lady Rattlers the title outright after their victory over the Wildcats.
Coach and Player Post-Game Comments:
Coach Tony Trifonov: We started a little bit tense. It's a rivalry game so it's always like that. Every sport we play Bethune-Cookman in it's like that. We committed a lot of errors...service errors and scoring errors. It was a little tight in the score because Bethune-Cookman fought a lot, played great defense and picked up a lot of balls, and we committed the errors. Sometimes that's how it goes and we were able to pull through in games two and three and get the win. It's good to go to the MEAC tournament as the No.1 seed.
Maria Ceccarelli: We're home and this was the last home game and we needed to show the crowd that we appreciate them, and we just needed to win. It's a good sign. We're going there to bring the MEAC championship back home. We started the way we needed to start and we're ready to bring the MEAC trophy back home.
Pamela Barrera: We're more relaxed and have confidence in each other. We're doing things now that we weren't able to do at the beginning of the season. We were home and we feel comfortable here. We are showing in practice that we're getting better. We need to bring that championship back home where it belongs. We're happy and excited about the challenge.
