FAMU volleyball returning to dominant style

By Rache’ Henderson

FAMU Sports Information

The FAMU Lady Rattlers (6-11, 3-0 MEAC) flexed their muscles in a dominating start to their 2016 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schedule. On Friday, September 23 they swept South Carolina State University, 3-0, and on Sunday, September 24 they swept Savannah State 3-0.

“Well for the MEAC we expect domination. I mean we have a lot of talented players so that is always the expectation, to win,” said FAMU Head Coach Tony Trifonov.

“We gotta play every match, and we gotta play better, and our setters need to do a better job of distributing the ball more evenly,” Trifonov said.

Senior Gina Lopez said “I think we did a good job in the two games that we had. I think the games that we had before were not conference games and they helped us perform well for the conference games.”

In the early 2000s, the FAMU Volleyball team was ranked nationally in the Top 25, and coach Trifonov is working to rebuild the team to back to that championship status.

New Assistant Coach Gokhan Yilmaz said,  “We have a lot of potential and a lot of young kids too so we are just trying to get them more organized and see the areas we can improve after we watch them play more. I think it is going to be a very good group.” 

Trifonov said of his new assistant coach, “Obviously brings a lot of wealth and knowledge to the team, working with FSU for quite a few years, help taking them to the Final four. He is good with the coaches and good with the kids and he brings a new perspective to the team and coaches and his wisdom will help us.”

He added: “Domination is good, but we still have a lot of room to improve in certain plays and certain situations and hopefully we see a better FAMU team by Friday.”

Among the new faces having a major impact so far is freshman Nicole Abreu, who was named MEAC Player of the Week, after finishing with 39 kills in three matches last week, highlighted by a season-high 22 against North Florida last Tuesday.

Junior setter Valeria Lopez was named MEAC Setter of the Week after dishing out 110 assists during the week, getting a season-high 50 Tuesday against North Florida.

Freshman hitter Maria Yvette Garcia, who had 14 kills Sunday against Savannah State, and nine versus South Carolina State, finished the week with 27 kills.

UPDATE: The FAMU volleyball team defeated Bethune-Cookman University (3-14, 2-1 MEAC) on Friday, September 30. FAMU now holds the #1 spot in the MEAC Southern Division.