DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University volleyball team will conclude regular season play by hosting the two teams tied for first place in the Southern Division of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) when the Lady Eagles entertain Florida A&M University on Friday at 6 p.m. and Bethune-Cookman University on Sunday at Noon.
All volleyball matches inside McDougald-McLendon Arena are
FREE.
NCCU will be providing
FREE live video, audio and stats for those that cannot attend the matches.
Mike Wood will be on the air providing the play-by-play. Fans can follow NCCU volleyball all season by visiting
NCCUEaglePride.com and on social media at
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Instagram.
Match Info
Friday, Nov. 10, 6 PM – Florida A&M at N.C. Central
McDougald-McLendon Arena, Durham, N.C.
WATCH |
LISTEN |
STATS
Sunday, Nov. 12, 12 PM – Bethune-Cookman at N.C. Central
McDougald-McLendon Arena, Durham, N.C.
WATCH |
LISTEN |
STATS
Senior Day
NCCU lone senior
Paige Phillips will be recognized before Sunday's match against Bethune-Cookman in her final home match. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for the presentation.
N.C. Central Volleyball
The Lady Eagles clinched a playoff position in the MEAC Volleyball Championship tournament for a second straight season with a 3-1 road victory at South Carolina State University last Thursday. NCCU (4-17 Overall, 4-4 MEAC) will be the fourth seed from the Southern Division and will play the top seed from the Northern Division in the quarterfinals in Princess Anne, Maryland, on Friday, Nov. 17. The MEAC will announce complete tournament pairings and match times after regular-season play wraps up this weekend.
Phillips enters her final two home games ranked fifth in the MEAC this season with an average of 7.61 assists per set. She's also supplying 2.86 digs per set in league play.
Freshman
Da'Nesha Miller and junior
Whitney White are leading NCCU with nearly 2.5 points per set apiece. Miller is doing it with a team-best 2.14 kills per set. White averages 2.03 kills and 0.68 blocks per set. Freshman
Christine Alcox also averages over two points per set and just under that total are juniors
Jazmine Daye and
Kierra Shipman.
Junior libero
Bree Simmons paces the Lady Eagles in two categories with 3.37 digs and 0.21 aces per set.
NCCU lost a pair of 3-0 road matches to FAMU and BCU in October. Daye topped the maroon and gray with eight points against the Rattlers. White totaled 10 kills against the Wildcats while Phillips notched one of her five double-doubles with 22 assists and 15 digs.
Florida A&M Volleyball
The Rattlers have won four straight matches and 10 of their last 13 contests. FAMU (11-11 Overall, 7-1 MEAC) tallied a 3-1 win over Bethune-Cookman last week to move into a share for the division lead with the Wildcats.
A pair of sophomores that were All-MEAC honorees as freshman last year lead the Rattlers attack. Co-MEAC Rookie of the Year and Second Team selection Nicole Abreu leads FAMU with 3.46 kills per set while also averaging 3.45 digs per set. First Team honoree Maria Yvette Garcia follows with 3.02 kills and 2.40 digs per set. They both rank in the top-10 of the MEAC in kills per set.
Junior libero Valentina Carrasco also earned Second Team All-MEAC attention last season and she leads the conference with 4.47 digs per set. Freshman middle blocker Candelaria Herrera supplies 2.71 kills per set, a team-high 0.87 blocks per set and she is second in the MEAC with a .376 hitting percentage. Sophomore Elena Dimitrova is FAMU's primary setter and she is averaging 8.52 assists per set.
Herrera tallied 12 kills and a .786 hitting percentage to pace the Rattlers to a 25-13, 25-15, 25-11 win over the Lady Eagles in Tallahassee on Oct. 13. FAMU hit .434 in the match.
Bethune-Cookman Volleyball
The Wildcats got back to .500 with a win over NCCU, but have since gone 2-5. Their loss to FAMU last week dropped them into a tie for first place in the Southern Division with the Rattlers. Bethune-Cookman (10-13 Overall, 1-7 MEAC) will play at North Carolina A&T State University on Friday before taking the court in Durham on Sunday.
Freshman Jordan Jefferson has immediately become a big impact player for the Wildcats. Jefferson is blasting 3.11 kills per set, good for sixth most in the MEAC, and scooping up 3.03 digs per set.
Sophomore Alana Handy is a reigning Co-MEAC Rookie of the Year and he supplies 2.08 kills per set. Senior Rakaya Neely joined Handy as a Second Team All-MEAC honoree last year and she supplies 2.28 kills per set, 1.05 blocks per set (first in the MEAC) and a .350 hitting percentage (second in the MEAC).
Senior setter Phalen Clark leads the MEAC with 10.25 assists per set while also chipping in 2.96 digs per set. Classmate Rechez Lindsay tops the squad with 3.93 digs per set.
Jefferson and senior Alondra Bautista, who ranks second on the team with 2.74 kills per set, led the Wildcats to a 25-19, 25-16, 25-18 win over NCCU in Daytona Beach on Oct. 15 with 15 and 12 kills, respectively. Clark added 39 assists as BCU hit .258.
