DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University volleyball team will try and remain undefeated in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Southern Division when the Lady Eagles host Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman University over the weekend.
 
NCCU will entertain the divisional front-running Rattlers inside McDougald-McLendon Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. and battle the Wildcats at Charles E. Jordan High School on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
NCCU will be providing a free audio webcast of both matches with NCCU Sports Network broadcaster Mike Wood on the air with the play-by-play. Live stats will also be available for both contests and a pay-per-view video stream is available just for Friday's match. Fans can follow NCCU volleyball all season by visiting NCCUEaglePride.com and on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 
PROMOTIONS
FRIDAY: "Dig Pink" – Breast Cancer Awareness Game. All fans encouraged to wear pink.
SUNDAY: "Purple Passion" – Domestic Violence Awareness. All fans encouraged to wear purple
 
MATCH INFO
 
Friday, October 7 | 7 p.m.
Florida A&M at NCCU
VIDEO | AUDIO | LIVE STATS
 
Sunday, October 9 | 1 p.m.
Bethune-Cookman at NCCU
AUDIO | LIVE STATS
 
N.C. Central Volleyball
 
The Lady Eagles opened up conference action with a pair of road wins at South Carolina State University (3-1) and Savannah State University (3-0). NCCU (3-8 Overall, 2-0 MEAC) is 2-0 in the league for the first time since joining the MEAC in 2011.
 
Junior setter Paige Phillips has moved up to fourth in the league with 7.09 assists per set as NCCU hit .187 in its first two MEAC matches. Phillips is coming off her second double-double of the season as she is adding an average of over two digs per set.
 
A quartet of Lady Eagles continue to tally over one kill per set. Senior Casey Curran (2.51 kills/set) paces NCCU's attack and is followed by classmate Kelsey Murphy (1.87 kps) and sophomore middle blockers Whitney White (1.77 kps, 0.66 bps) and Jazmine Daye (1.52 kps, 0.70 bps), who also lead the maroon and gray in blocks.  
 
Sophomore libero Bree Simmons highlights NCCU's back-row defense and service game with 3.83 digs and 0.31 aces per set. Simmons ranks sixth in MEAC in digs and White is 10th in hitting percentage (.211).
 
NCCU split its season series with Florida A&M last season and the victory at home was the first win for the Lady Eagles over the Rattlers in their modern era (1-11 since 2007). NCCU was swept by Bethune-Cookman in 2015 and has lost four straight to the Wildcats to dip below .500 against them at the DI level (6-10).
 
Florida A&M Volleyball
 
The Rattlers have swept their first three MEAC matches to take a half-game lead over NCCU and North Carolina A&T State University in the Southern Division. After sweeping Savannah State and South Carolina State, Florida A&M (6-11 Overall, 3-0 MEAC) picked up a key win against Bethune-Cookman in a match-up of the two divisional favorites last Friday.
 
FAMU leads the division with a .173 hitting percentage, 11.76 kills per set and 1.80 aces per set.
 
A pair of freshman outside hitters have taken over the Rattlers attack as Nicole Abreu (3.20 kills/set) and Maria Yvette Garcia (3.06 kps) are fifth and sixth in the MEAC, respectively, with over three kills per set.
 
Florida A&M has a total of six freshman and two other rookies are also making an impact early in their careers. Outside hitter Radka Dimitrova is supplying 1.15 kills, 1.76 digs and 0.43 aces per set (second in the MEAC). Elena Dimitrova has served as a secondary setter for the Rattlers and is tallying 6.64 assists per set.
 
Sophomore libero Valentina Carrasco is second in the MEAC with 4.39 digs per set and junior setter Valeria Lopez tops FAMU with 8.26 assists per set. Senior middle blocker Dei'Ja Martin is an All-MEAC selection that is chipping in 1.53 kills per set. Senior classmate Ginna Chavez-Lopez adds 1.69 kills per set and a team-high 0.77 blocks per set.
 
Bethune-Cookman Volleyball
 
The defending Southern Division champion Wildcats suffered their first MEAC loss last weekend to Florida A&M. Bethune-Cookman (3-15 Overall, 2-1 MEAC) is coming off a 3-1 non-conference loss at the University of North Florida on Tuesday and will play at N.C. A&T on Friday before visiting Durham on Sunday.
 
The Wildcats return two All-MEAC middle blockers and Bethune-Cookman leads the division with 1.89 blocks per set. Senior Phylecia Armstrong is tied atop the league with 1.10 blocks per set, while averaging 2.03 kills per set with a .315 hitting percentage. Junior Rakaya Neely contributes 1.85 kills and 0.62 blocks per set. Neely's .323 hitting percentage is tops in the MEAC.
 
Freshman Alana Handy has taken over the Wildcats top attack position with 2.57 kills per set. She is second on the team with 2.46 digs per set.
 
In the specialty roles, senior libero Normarie Rolon Soto leads B-CU with 3.37 digs per set while junior Phalen Clark (5.82 assists/set) and sophomore J'nai Higgins (4.40) are splitting the setting duties pretty evenly.