Florida A&M

NEW ORLEANS – Florida A&M suffered a pair of tough losses in volleyball action on Friday during the Pelican Invitational hosted by LSU New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Rattlers dropped a 3-1 decision to Cal State Fullerton, followed by a heartbreaking 3-2 nightcap loss to Idaho.
 
CAL STATE FULLERTON 3, FAMU 1
LaDonna Trantham had 17 kills and Sydney Whitfield added 15, but Florida A&M dropped a four-set match to Cal State Fullerton on Friday morning at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse. The Rattlers dropped the match on scores of 25-13, 25-22, 21-25, 25-19.
 
Florida A&M (4-7) hit .203 as a team, just behind the Titans' .224, and matched Fullerton with 10 team blocks.
 
The Achilles heel for the Rattles in the match was committing 10 service errors. Meanwhile, Fullerton (5-6) answered with five aces to the Rattlers' one.
 
LaDonna Trantham, the current Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Offensive Player of the Week, finished with 17 kills for the Orange and Green, adding three block assists, and hit .216 on 51 swings to go along with nine digs on defense. Senior outside hitter Sydney Whitfield added double-digit kills (15) with eight digs to fall just short of a double-double.
 
Brandi Boston hit .429 on eight kills and led the team with six block assists – a season-high for her in that department, and Farah Farooq had five blocks of her own (assisted). Meanwhile, Makenzie Taylor ran the offense with 19 assists and 10 digs to complete a double-double performance, and libero Victoria Santana had 17 digs.
 
After Fullerton opened with a 25-13 win, FAMU hit .361 in the second set, led by nine kills from Trantham on a .533 clip. The Rattlers led 13-9 and 19-18 in the set, but the Titans scored four straight points late to take control and closed it out 25-22.
 
FAMU's best stretch came in the third set.
 
Tied 20-20, the Rattlers scored five of the final six points to win 25-21, with Whitfield recording kills on three of the last five. The Rattlers hit .356 in the set with just two errors, and Whitfield had seven kills.
 
Fullerton controlled the fourth set from start to finish, never trailing after taking an 8-6 lead midway through.
 
Sofia Shine had 17 kills and hit .452 for Fullerton, while Bella Risling had 16 kills and hit .500. Sibley Oster had 43 assists, and libero Kaieva Christensen had a match-high 19 digs.
 
IDAHO 3, FAMU 2
Despite a combined 27 kills from Farah Farooq and LaDonna Trantham on Friday afternoon, Florida A&M Volleyball dropped a five-set thriller to Idaho in the Pelican Invitational housed inside Kiefer Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Rattlers fell on scores of 14-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-16, 9-15.
 
Florida A&M (4-8) forced a decisive fifth set by winning the second and fourth sets, but Idaho seized control early in the fifth with a 4-0 start on Kailee Wakatake's serve that included three aces. FAMU pulled within 7-6, but the Vandals answered with four straight points, two of them aces by libero Keira Kleidon, and led from start to finish.
 
LaDonna Trantham finished with a team-high 16 kills for the Orange and Green. Farah Farooq had 11 kills on a productive 20 swings and added a season-best nine block assists. Iyonnie Sanford had eight block assists, and Tamia Coleman had a solo block and seven assists as Florida A&M out-blocked Idaho by a wide 17-7 margin.
 
For the Rattlers, Bengisu Kazazlar had 18 assists and Makenzie Taylor had 17 to set up the offense.
 
FAMU trailed 4-0 and 5-1 in the second set before scoring seven straight points to turn an 8-6 deficit into a 13-8 lead. Idaho pulled within 23-22 late, but Farooq's kill closed out the 25-23 win. She had five kills in the set.
 
FAMU hit .346 in the fourth set and closed it on a 7-0 run, with Kazazlar and Farooq combining on blocks for the final two points. Trantham had five kills in the set on .444 hitting.
 
Idaho (8-3) had 18 aces to Florida A&M's 10, and the Rattlers hit .162 as a team to the Vandals' .209.
 
Kiana Greer had 17 kills and 23 points for Idaho. All five of her aces came in the third set, including four in a six-point serving run that closed out a 25-16 win. Zola Zuccolo had 25 assists and 10 digs, and Sophie Danielson added 12 kills.
 
The Rattlers close the Pelican Invitational on Saturday against host LSU New Orleans at 2 p.m. EDT.
 
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