UF Gators Volleyball rolls FAMU Rattlers in NCAA first round

Friday night at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center had the feeling of a battle of the bands, when all of a sudden a good volleyball match broke out. UF defended its home court in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, knocking out Florida A&M 25-20, 25-21, 25-15. The Gators hit a gaudy .451, led by freshman Cassandra Anderson’s 10 kills on 11 swings. The team percentage was the best ever by a Gator squad in an NCAA match. “As a team, I feel like we passed well,” Anderson said. “Connecting with the setters helped a lot to get kills around the block. As a team, we brought it all together.”

FAMU kept things competitive on the court and off, with members of its Marching 100 band drawing cheers from the 1,550 fans in attendance during timeouts. The roars at times rivaled the sound during the game. Both bands stuck around 30 minutes after the match, volleying turns to work the crowd up. The Gators (26-3) got a scare early in the match, trailing 3-0 to start the first set and battling all the way through an 18-all tie. Despite 11 ties and three lead changes, Florida closed the set out by scoring seven of the final nine points.

The Rattlers (14-13) got six kills in the set from Samara Ferraz, who finished with a match-high 15 (.290 hitting).

Photo Gallery
Boxscore
Pre-Game Notes
Post-Game Notes

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FAMU volleyball's 98-game MEAC winning streak ends

FAMU Coach Tony Trifonov provides instructions to Maria Gomez, as the Lady Rattlers historic 98 game MEAC winning streak is ended by the Lady Bulldogs.





ORANGEBURG, S.C — The South Carolina State volleyball team did what no other team in the conference could do in 98 regular season matches over a 10-year period: they defeated the seven-time defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M, 3-1, (25-23, 25-19, 18-25, 25-19), and thus ended what has been a dominant streak.

This was FAMU's first conference loss in seven seasons. The Lady Bulldogs (9-18, 2-2 MEAC) controlled the match from the first point and with each point thereafter, S.C. State's confidence increased. Despite dropping the third set, the Lady Bulldogs remained poised to close out FAMU (6-10, 3-1 MEAC). The Lady Bulldogs won in a team effort led by freshman middle blocker Shabree Roberson had a big game as she put down 14 kills with nine assists.

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FAMU 23, Winston-Salem State 0
Pulley year in photos
Marching 100 Practices
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Royster-Crockett continues career

Courtesy, Latasha Edwards, The FAMUAN

Student travels overseas to pursue professional dream in league

After being kicked off the Florida A&M University's volleyball team, Marrita Royster-Crocket could have wasted her talents, but instead she decided to take them overseas to Switzerland to pursue her dreams. Royster-Crockett was dismissed by the athletic department after being classified as academically ineligible last year.

"They told us we have to declare a major after August of our junior year to be academically eligible," said Royster-Crockett, a 20 year old, senior broadcast student from Tallahassee. "My transcript read pre-journalism instead of broadcast journalism. It was a technical error." That error cost Royster-Crockett both academically and athletically. She lost her scholarship because she was not allowed to practice and she was still unable to be a part of the team. She missed the whole season.

According to Alvin Hollins, assistant athletic director of media relations, the Athletic Department could not comment because the information is confidential. In October 2007, she was told her ineligibility was a mistake but she already missed half of the season. Royster-Crockett asked to be red shirted following the mix-up. A red shirt is when a player has five academic years, but skips a year of play without losing a year of eligibility.

Marrita Royster-Crockett was a sophomore Florida State University transfer student-athlete who earned First Team All-MEAC honors in her first season with the Lady Rattlers and made an appearance in the 2006 NCAA Championship at Florida. The 6-0/outside hitter averaged averaged 4.72 kills per game while hitting .270 and averaging 1.96 digs per game in her last season with the Lady Rattlers.

"They ended up giving me my red shirt and my coach stop contacting me," Royster-Crockett said. "They told me not to practice with the team and wait until next fall."

With a burning desire to continue her career on the court, Royster-Crockett turned to her mother Rita Buck-Crockett, a volleyball agent and two-time Olympian. Buck-Crockett decided to contact Techlaser in Cheseaux, a national team in Switzerland to prevent her daughter from ending her volleyball career.

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FAMU Lady Rattlers Nip Stetson In Tough Match

Courtesy: Stetson University

FAMU vs. Stetson Box Score

Tallahassee, FL – The Stetson volleyball team (0-2) battled hard Saturday morning against Florida A&M (1-1) but fell to the Rattlers in four sets. FAMU edged the Hatters three times by two points en route to a 26-24, 17-25, 25-23, 26-24 victory in the FSU Invitational at Tully Gymnasium.

The Hatters came back from a seven-point deficit midway through the first set to tie the score 24-24 on a kill from senior outside hitter Rebecca Orzechowicz (Miami, Fla.) but couldn’t get over the hump as Florida A&M scored the next two points for the win.

Set Two went much better for Stetson. Orzechowicz started the set with a kill and the Hatters never trailed en route to a 25-17 victory, finishing with a 7-2 run and a punctuating kill from junior right side Sarah Sears (Ashburn, Va.)
























FAMU Lady Rattlers Maria Gomez, OH 6-2 Jr. Guayaquil, Eucador/Nuevo Mundo.

Just as in the first set, the third and fourth stanzas saw the Rattlers just manage to hold off the Hatters. Down 8-3 early in Set Three, Stetson went on a 7-1 run to take the lead. Later, Stetson would go ahead 22-21 on an Orzechowicz kill and seemed poised to go ahead in the match, but FAMU once again snuck back ahead and won 26-24.

Set Four was a see-saw affair in which neither team had a lead of more than three points. Once again, the Hatters had a 22-21 lead they could not hold as FAMU’s Joanna Blazeski tallied kills for three of her team’s final four points and the Rattlers walked off the court with the victory.

Orzechowicz finished the match with a team-high 13 kills while freshman outside hitter Kaylee Ream (Venice, Fla.) had seven kills and just one error, hitting .273 in the process. Senior libero Melanie Boyer (New Holland, Ill.) recorded 19 digs while freshman setter Jennica Hagberg (Niceville, Fla.) gave the Hatters 33 assists and eight digs. Sears and junior middle blocker Laura Boyd (La Crescenta, Calif.) contributed six block assists each.

Blazeski had 23 kills and 18 digs to lead the Rattlers. Samara Ferraz had 19 kills while Maria Gomez (11 kills, 11 digs) joined Blazeski in the double-double category.

FAMU's Sept. 1st game with Tulane University was cancelled due to Hurricane Gustav landfall on the Louisiana Coast today.

Attendance: 136 (Capacity: 2,500) Lucy McDaniel Court at Tully Gym, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

MEAC Releases Volleyball Preseason Poll

Will 2008 be the Year of the Lady Hawks?

Florida A&M University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore were picked as the preseason favorites in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) southern and northern divisions, as voted on by the leagues head volleyball coaches and sports information directors.

The Florida A&M Lady Rattlers, who were slated to finish first in the Southern Division, completed the 2007 season with an 8-0 MEAC mark and 18-8 overall record en route to their seventh consecutive MEAC volleyball title. They return four starters including 2007 MEAC Rookie of the Year Jovana Blazeski. Blazeski recorded two 20-plus dig outings and seven 20-plus kill performances. She also tallied double-digit kills in 25-of-26 games played.

Florida A&M received 21 first place votes for a total of 261 points to earn the top preseason selection.

North Carolina A&T was predicted to finish second in the Southern Division with 183 points, followed by Bethune-Cookman (177), South Carolina State (154) and Norfolk State (149).

Maryland Eastern Shore Lady Hawks received 17 of the possible 22 first place votes to earn the nod to finish atop the northern divisional standings. The Lady Hawks posted a 10-0 MEAC mark in 2007 and a 24-4 overall record. They return six starters, three of which earned All-MEAC honors including 2007 MEAC Player of the Year Whitney Johnson, Christina Estebane’ and Caylin Woodward. Johnson ranked among the top three in the league in kills, hitting percentage and points.

Morgan State was picked second in the Northern Division with three first place votes and 191 total points, followed by Delaware State (172), Howard (169), Hampton (143) and Coppin State (114).

Conference play begins on October 3 with all MEAC northern and southern teams in action. The 2008 MEAC Volleyball championship is scheduled for November 14-16 in Holland Hall on the campus of Hampton (Va.) University.

2008 MEAC Volleyball Predicted Order of Finish
(As voted on by the leagues head coaches and sports information directors)
(First place votes in parentheses)

MEAC Northern Division
Maryland Eastern Shore (17) - 245 pts.
Morgan State (3) - 191 pts.
Delaware State -172 pts.
Howard (2) - 169 pts.
Hampton - 143 pts.
Coppin State - 114 pts.

MEAC Southern Division
Florida A&M (21) - 261 pts.
North Carolina A&T -183 pts.
Bethune-Cookman (1) - 177 pts.
South Carolina State - 154 pts.
Norfolk State - 149 pts.

Courtesy: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Mercer Volleyball Falls at FAMU

Photo: FAMU's Zaira Manzo, Sophomore, 5-10, S., Santa Maria of Fatima High School, Lima, Peru

The Mercer volleyball squad dropped a 3-1 decision to Florida A&M Wednesday evening at the Gaither Center.

After taking the first game of the match, 31-29, the Bears fell in the final three games, 30-19, 30-27 and 30-22.

Florida A&M improves to 2-5 on the season, while Mercer falls to 2-11.

The Bears fell behind early in the first game as the Lady Rattlers took the first four points of the set.

Mercer battled to get within two at the 10-8 mark when FAMU went on a 9-2 run to take a firm lead.

A kill by Julie Darty sparked a 5-1 run for the Bears, narrowing the Lady Rattler lead to four points.

FAMU answered with a 7-1 run to take their largest lead of the game, 25-16.

Drennan Dexheimer notched a kill as the Bears scored seven of the next nine points to put the game at 27-23.

Florida A&M head coach Tony Trifonov called a timeout to regroup his team and the Lady Rattlers came out of the break to score the next two points and put FAMU at game point, 29-23.

The Bears did not give up, reeling off the next eight points to take the come-back win, 31-29.

In the second game, Mercer took the first point on a kill by Julie Darty, but Florida A&M scored the next nine points to jump out to an early 9-1 lead.

The Bears battled back, getting within four points of the Lady Rattlers at the 13-9 mark but back-to-back kills and errors by Mercer once again put FAMU up by eight, 17-9.

Mercer fought to the end but was unable to catch up to the early deficit, falling 20-19 in the game.

Florida A&M took an 11-5 lead in the third game and held on to its lead to the 28-23 mark.

After a timeout called by Mercer head coach Noelle Hughes, the Bears scored four consecutive points to get within one of the Lady Rattlers, 28-27.

FAMU grabbed the final two points to take a 30-27 win in the set.

Mercer fell behind 14-7 in the final game of the match when freshman Erica Vrvilo notched four kills to lead the Bears on a 6-2 run and narrow the Lady Rattlers' lead to three points, 16-13.

The teams battled evenly to 20-17 when Florida A&M scored three straight points to widen its lead once again.

The Lady Rattlers maintained their lead, taking the game, 30-22.

"After being in such a huge deficit in the first game, we fought back to take a great win, but we didn’t control the game on our side for the remainder of the match and committed too many unforced errors, making it easy for FAMU to win," said Hughes.

The Lady Rattlers (2-5) were senior led by Iva Lakic with 27 kills, followed by freshman Jovana Blazeski with 16. Sophomore Zaira Manzo led the team in assists and digs with 52 and 10.

The Lady Rattlers are scheduled to face the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL on September 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET and Bethune Cookman University on September 26 at 7:00 p.m. ET at Gaither Gym in Tallahassee, FL.

-Contributed by Mercer Media Relations and FAMU Sports Information