Volleyball ends weekend with a 3-0 loss to Florida A&M

Volleyball ends weekend with a 3-0 loss to Florida A&M

The JU volleyball team did not have the finish it was looking for to end the weekend as the Dolphins fell to Florida A&M, 3-0 (23-25, 18-25, 22-25), Saturday afternoon in the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational Tournament at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Sophomore outside hitter Aidan Yeager

JU (2-3) hit .280 (33-10-82) for the match but finished with 19 errors (11 service, six receiving, two ball handling) as it dropped two sets by two points. FAMU (2-3) hit .292 (47-16-106) but had 13 errors (nine service, three ball handling, one receiving).

"We weren’t good today and I take the blame for that," said JU head coach Shaun Kupferberg. "I did not have us prepared to play this weekend and I can promise that it will never happen again."

Freshman outside hitter Kathryn Kane finished with a team-high eight kills and a .500 (8-0-16) hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Sara Bendorf tallied seven kills, a .353 (7-1-17) hitting percentage and eight digs. Sophomore outside hitter Aidan Yeager finished with seven kills, a .333 (7-2-15) hitting percentage and a match-high four blocks. Sophomore middle hitter Brittany Lehman hit .500 (4-0-8) and tallied two blocks while junior libero Shelley Walroth led the defense with 10 digs.

Jovanna Blazeski finished with a match-high 21 kills, a team-high .326 (21-7-43) hitting percentage, seven digs and three blocks. Maria Gomez added 13 kills while Susan Egoavail paced the offense with 41 assists.

In the first set, FAMU took a 4-1 lead after an ace by Samara Ferraz but JU came back to even things up, 5-5, after an attack error by Blazeski. Both teams went through one more tie (8-8) before the Rattlers used a 3-0 run to retake the lead, 11-8, on a kill by Ferraz. The Dolphins stormed back with a 6-0 run, capped by a block assist by Yeager and Lehman, to take their first lead of the set (14-11). JU increased the lead to 17-13 on a kill by Yeager but the Ratters answered back with a 9-2 run, capped by an attack error by the Dolphins, to take a 22-19 advantage. JU would cut the deficit to 23-22 on a service error by Ferraz but FAMU got a pair of kills from Gomez to give the Rattlers a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second set, both teams went through two ties before FAMU took a 7-4 lead on a block assist by Blazeski and Ferraz. JU cut the deficit to 8-7 with a kill by sophomore setter Hannah Munneke but the Rattlers answered back with a 4-1 run, capped by Gomez kill, to push the lead to 12-8. FAMU made it 15-10 after an attack error by the Dolphins before increasing the margin to 22-13 with a 4-1 run. The Rattlers would lead by no less than seven points the remainder of the way as they took a 2-0 lead in the match.

In the final frame, both teams battled through two ties before the Dolphins used a 3-0 run to take a 5-2 lead. FAMU answered back to tie the set more 11 times, trailing by no more than two points, before taking an 18-17 lead on a kill by Blazeski. Both teams went through four more ties until the Rattlers used a 4-1 run to take a 24-21 lead and seal the match.

JU will open Atlantic Sun Conference action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. as the Dolphins face cross-town rival UNF at UNF Arena.