TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – FIU pulled away from homestanding Florida A&M in volleyball action Friday evening, with the Panthers taking a 3-0 victory from the Rattlers on the second day of the FAMU Volleyball Tournament housed inside the Al Lawson Center in Tallahassee, Florida. The Panthers grabbed the win on scores of 25-14, 25-18, 25-21.
The Panthers hit .263 as a team, racking up 44 kills on just 19 errors, while the Rattlers struggled to find rhythm on offense, hitting .105 with 25 kills and 15 errors of their own. Each time FAMU looked to get back into a set, the Rattlers had built a hole too deep to dig out of, unfortunately.
Lana Sesar paced FIU (4-4) with a match-high 13 kills, and Gina Fedrigo was nearly unstoppable in a limited workload, hitting .429 with eight kills. Chiara Fabbrini added six kills, and Rayne Williams was efficient in a reserve role, hitting .667.
As a unit, the visitors also served nine aces in the match and got 44 digs as a team.
For the second time in as many days,
LaDonna Trantham led FAMU (3-5) with 12 kills and a team-best .257 hitting percentage, and
Farah Farooq chipped in five kills at a .308 clip.
Brandi Boston also had five kills, while libero
Sydney Humes anchored the back row with 11 of the Rattlers' 27 digs overall as a team.
The Rattlers proved big at the net with eight team blocks – four of those coming from
Farah Farooq, compared to FIU's seven total blocks as a group.
The first set was tight through the middle before FIU seized control.
The Orange and Green actually rallied from an early 6-2 deficit to pull within one at 6-5 behind kills from Trantham and Farooq. But Mariana Silva took over from the service line for the Panthers, sparking an extended run, fueled in part by kills from Sesar and Fedrigo. That ballooned FIU's lead from 7-6 to an insurmountable 23-7 advantage late in the opening frame and put it out of reach in a 25-14 finish.
FAMU hung tough longer in the second, trading the lead in a set that was tied at 4-4 and again at 5-5. FIU eventually built separation behind Fedrigo and Sesar down the stretch, closing it out 25-18.
The third set was the Rattlers' best chance, as they clawed all the way back from an 11-8 hole to tie it at 21-21 on a Farooq kill.
But FIU closed on a 4-2 run to finish, capped by a Marla Valentin kill, to complete the sweep 25-21.
The Rattlers close out their portion of the FAMU Volleyball Tournament on Saturday when FAMU takes on former Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) foe Hampton at 10 a.m., back inside the Al Lawson Center.
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