The Lady Aggie Volleyball team was defeated again Oct. 31 at home by the Florida A&M Rattlers.

The Rattlers dominated the Aggies in just 3 sets (25-12, 25-11, 25-13).

The Aggies fell behind quickly in the first set, but later made a quick run to make the score 11-5. But too many serve and hitting errors by the Aggies gave the Rattlers of FAMU easy points to allow them to easily take the win.

The second set consisted of lack of communication between the Aggies causing the ball to easily hit the ground without anyone near to hit it giving Florida A&M a chance to dominate the game. And dominant they did, winning by 14 points.

The Aggies didn’t seem to have an answer for the Florida A&M outside hitters.

Kills by freshman Katherine Huanec and sophomore Lorin Rucker made it easy for FAMU to get a quick 7-2 lead in the third set and eventually claim victory of the match.

Before losing to the Rattlers, on Oct. 29, the Aggies were defeated at home by the Bethune-Cookman LadyCats in 3 sets.

Senior Amber Inman got the Aggies off to a good start with an ace followed by a block from freshman Elisha Boyer. Freshman Mia Gray’s kill also helped the Aggies out by giving them a 3-0 lead.

But two kills by the LadyCats’ senior Kaiyana Johnson and junior Linda Nwabuko and an ace by freshman Jennifer Jimenez sparked a comeback for Bethune-

Cookman, making the score 11-9 in the first set with the Aggies still leading.

The LadyCats took the lead after a ball handling error by Inman and soon the score was 15-12.

A&T tried to redeem themselves attacking the LadyCats and came back to trail only by one point.

Competitive rallies throughout the rest of the set put the Aggies closer but Bethune-Cookman came out with the win (25-18).

In the second set, hitting errors from A&T gave Bethune-Cookman easy points. As the Aggies would score a point to inch closer and closer to tie the game, the LadyCats would slowly pull away again and again. The Wildcats took the second set only allowing 14 points for the Aggies (25-14).

The Aggies started off strong in the third set having a 3-0 lead. Bethune crept back taking the lead for the first time in the third set 9-8. They began to pull away again like the previous sets with the score 15-10 until a missed serve by the LadyCats junior Frances Rodriguez and hitting errors allowed the Aggies to come back within four points. But the Aggies fell short once again (25-19).

“The games were good, until we get in the red zone, then we fall out,” said senior Amber Inman. “The games could’ve gotten better. Our goal isn’t always to win the whole game, sometimes it’s just to win a set, but we didn’t do that tonight.”

Junior Jessica Wilson had eight kills and eight digs for the LadyCats. Freshman Kat Agson and Nwabuko also contributed seven kills each.

Inman had 15 assists and five digs along with Boyer’s seven kills, two assists, and four digs.

The USC Upstate Spartans swept the Lady Aggies Oct. 27, winning three consecutive sets to claim the victory at Corbett Sports Center.

Despite distractions from the audience and questionable calls from the officials, the Spartans easily defeated the Aggies 3-0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-16).

USC Upstate dominated the first set while the Aggies had a series of bad passes, which led to bad sets, which ultimately led to attack and hitting errors.

However in the second set, A&T had a scoring streak leading the game 8-4. Freshman Devonte’ Reese stepped up for the Aggies having three kills, one block, and four digs.

The second set was the only time during the match that the Aggies took the lead.

“They let up a little bit and didn’t play at a quick pace,” said Upstate Head Coach Jennifer Calloway, also a 1995 USC Upstate graduate and former standout of the USC Upstate Women’s Volleyball team.

But the Lady Spartans soon came back to take the lead 11-10 and went on to win the set.

The same scenario occurred in the third set of the volleyball match. The lady Aggies were behind by one point but then the lady Spartans took a commanding lead. A block by the Spartans’ Morgan Thomas ended the match.

Overall, the offense of the Lady Spartans proved to be difficult for the Lady Aggies’ defense. The Spartans had a total of 37 kills and only ten errors compared to the Aggies’ 19 kills and 17 errors.

“We controlled the ball and I think they communicated well,” said Calloway.

Emily Saunders led the Spartans with 27 assists and six digs. Cori Harris and Mindy Quimby also contributed six kills apiece with Harris having 12 digs and Quimby having 10.

Amber Inman, who is both the setter and a defensive specialist, contributed 15 assists and six digs for the Aggies.

The Lady Aggies have lost their last 16 matches and only have two games left in the season before the MEAC Tournament.

 

• Karmen Robinson