Florida A&M 2, Jacksonville State 3

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Faced with a 2-1 deficit, the Jacksonville State volleyball team rallied to win the final two sets and claim the Gamecocks’ first-ever NCAA Tournament win in the form of a 3-2 defeat of Florida A&M in Saturday’s first round. The Gamecocks (27-7) won their 12th-straight fifth-set match but had to rally to force the deciding game. After claiming a 25-22 win in the opening set, the Lady Rattlers (17-10) rolled to wins in the second and third sets and put JSU’s backs against the wall. A late fourth-set rally forced the match into the deciding one, a place the Gamecocks are a perfect 10-0 in 2009.

The Lady Rattlers were led by Maria Gomez’s double-double of 19 kills and 11 digs. Gomez hit .375 in the win, while Jovana Blazeski added 16 kills on 58 swings and 14 digs on the back row. In the opening set, neither team led by more than three points until a late 9-1 JSU run turned an 18-15 deficit into a 24-19 Gamecock lead. The Rattlers rattled off the next three points before a Whitten kill gave Jax State a 25-22 win. The victory was the Gamecocks’ first ever set win in their NCAA Tournament history.

FAMU stormed out of the gates in the second set to build an early 11-5 lead. JSU never pulled any closer than three points before the Rattlers tied the match with a 25-18 win. JSU hit for a slightly better percentage in the second set than the first but saw the Rattlers commit just two errors and hit .429 en route to tying the match. In the third set, the Gamecocks built an early 8-5 lead, but FAMU put together a 9-1 run that put the Rattlers in control of the set with a 14-9 lead. JSU slowly cut into the lead before pulling to within one at 16-15 and tying it at 17-17. The two exchanged points twice before a FAMU error gave JSU a 20-19 lead. With the Gamecocks trailing 23-22, an Alyx Schulte attack was ruled in by the line judge but overturned by the lead official setting up a 25-23 FAMU win that put the Gamecocks’ backs against the wall.

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FAMU Volleyball wins 9th Straight MEAC Championship

MEAC Player of the Year, Jovanna Blazeski leads Florida A&M Lady Rattlers to 9th consecutive MEAC Championship and 2009 NCAA Tournament.

FAMU claims ninth straight MEAC volleyball title

Jovanna Blazeski pounded out 16 kills and Jessica Bond dished out 41 assists to help Florida A&M defeat Maryland-Eastern Shore in four sets for the MEAC volleyball title at Coppin Center in Baltimore Sunday. The Rattlers (17-8) won 25-17, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23 to claim its ninth consecutive championship. Maria Gomez had 15 kills for FAMU and Susan Egoavil scooped up 16 digs, one of four players in double figures in digs for the Rattlers. As a team, FAMU edged the Lady Hawks 61-56 in digs.

FLORIDA A&M DEFEATS UMES IN MEAC TITLE GAME, 3-1

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BALTIMORE, Md. - Sophomore Christine Edwards (Lakewood, Calif.) posted 21 kills and senior Whitney Johnson (Prince Frederick, Md.) had 13 but the University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball team fell in the MEAC championship game to Florida A&M, 3-1 (17-25, 23-25, 25-20, 23-25), for the third consecutive season Sunday at the Coppin Center. The loss for UMES snapped a 15 match winning streak and ended the Hawks' season at 24-7 while giving Florida A&M (17-8) its ninth consecutive MEAC title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Senior Caylin Woodward (Garden Grove, Calif.), one of three Hawks playing their final match for UMES, chipped in with nine kills and team highs of 15 digs and a .304 hitting percentage. She also had four block assists and two assists. Freshman Bella Jade Romero (Arlington, Texas) tallied a double-double for the Hawks with 48 assists and 10 digs. Redshirt junior Samantha Chukwura (Brooklyn, N.Y.) contributed eight kills, a match-best six block assists and three digs.

Both Jovana Blazeski (16) and Maria Gomez (15) finished with double-digit kills for the Lady Rattlers, who registered a .208 team hitting efficiency to .233 for UMES. UMES held a slight advantage in kills, 54-52, and the teams each had 9.0 blocks. The Lady Rattlers had 61 digs, five more than the Hawks, and also led in service aces, 5-2. The match featured 38 ties and 16 lead changes.

Down, 6-5, in the first game, Chukwura and Edwards combined to block Pamela Barrera's attack to knot the game at 6. UMES tallied only one of the next points and called a timeout to try and shift momentum. The Hawks went on a 5-1 run to cut the FAMU advantage to three at 15-12 but that was as close as they got in the game as the Rattlers pulled away. Blazeski had a pair of kills in a 4-0 run to extend the lead to 19-12 and the Rattlers won the game with the help of a sophomore Zoe Bowens (Long Beach, Calif.) service error, one of 19 on the day.

The second game opened with a block from Romero and senior Thonya Joseph (Bridgetown, Barbados) and the Hawks led by as many as two on three occasions, the third time at 16-14 on a Edwards kill but Florida A&M to tie things at 16 on a Gomez kill and then take the lead for good on a block by Barrera and Maria Ceccarelli. The Hawks got back to with 24-23 on a Blazeski error forcing a FAMU timeout but the Lady Rattlers regrouped to close the door with another Barrera kill.

The Hawks won the third game, taking nine of the final 13 points to get on the board and make it 2-1. Three Hawks contributed kills in the run, including two from Woodward. Florida A&M had an 8-3 lead in the final game before UMES called timeout. The Hawks battled back to 13-all, getting the tying point off a Gomez service error. The game saw four more ties, the last at 20-all, before The Rattlers took the match on a Woodward error.

Barrera finished with nine kills and a match-high .389 hitting percentage. Jessica Bond had a double-double of 41 assists and 10 digs. Blazeski and Gomez also threw in 13 and 12 digs, respectively, for a double-doubles of their own. Susan Egoavil led all players with 16 digs.

by UMES Sports Information

FAMU's Blazeski MEAC's top player

Florida A&M University junior Jovana Blazeski was named the 2009 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Blazeski leads the conference and is ranked 10th in the nation in kills per set (4.61). The outside hitter guided her team to an 8-0 record in conference play and 14-8 mark overall. She totaled 364 kills in 79 sets played during the regular season along with 3.04 digs and 5.05 points per set. In addition, Blazeski tallied 10 double-doubles along with six 20-plus kill performances this season.

Joining Blazeski on the All-MEAC first team are teammates Jessica Bond and Susan Egoavil.

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