Sept. 15, 2006

Boca Raton, Fla. - The Bethune-Cookman College volleyball squad lost their second match in a row on Friday evening with a 3-0 decision at the hands of Florida Atlantic inside FAU Arena in Boca Raton, Fla.

B-CC (3-2) was down early and often, but kept fighting back with that Wildcat spirit in each game. The Owls of FAU (3-7) took the match on scores of 30-14, 30-15 and 30-18.

The `Cats were unable to come back in the first game after falling behind 10-3 right from the start. FAU's Janelle Sarauw and Iana Andonova were the lead "flyers" on the night with overpowering size and ... power ... at the net. After battling back to within 15-7, the `Cats allowed FAU to run up nine straight points before they stopped the bleeding at 23-7. Unfortunately, the damage had been dome in Game #1.

In the second game, B-CC was right there with the Owls in a see-saw affair as Vonetta Simpson (San Antonio, Tex.) struck back-to-back kills--assisted by freshman setter Kumiko Chow (Rocky Mountain House, Alberta) and Tabatha Williams (Taber, Alberta)--to give the `Cats a brief 5-2 lead over their counterparts from south Florida. The game would dwindle back-and-forth until eventually tied at 10-10.

But the Owls would rally behind Andonova and Sarauw again as FAU stormed ahead with a 20-5 run to end the game, limiting the B-CC offense as two of the five points scored the rest of the way came via an Owls service error and an attack error. Outside hitter Rachelle Aupperle (Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan) had the only kill down the stretch, while Dani Goodrum (Roswell, Ga.) had a service ace.

The `Cats once again hung tight in the third game until a breaking point arrived for the Owls. FAU went on top 2-0 right from the start as B-CC was charged with a delay of game yellow card and forfeited two (2) points. Bethune-Cookman surged back to take a 6-5 lead after an FAU attack error, as well as a kill from Aupperle in the middle. But the Owls were too much down the stretch, once again, as Krystena Castro added her name to the kills category four times to lead her team to victory.

FAU was led on the night by Andonova with 13 kills, as well as Sarauw with 12 kills of her own. Defensively, the Owls were paced by three players in double digits for digs with Nikki Hartman (14), Andonova (11) and Sarauw (10). Casey LaRocca led the offense with 40 assists in the match.

For the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, Simpson led all players in the kills category (7), while teammates Ariane Guy (Nashville, Tenn.) and Goodrum led the squad defensively with 12 and 11 digs, respectively. Chow set up the offense with 14 assists. As a team, the `Cats were limited to their lowest production of kills on the season with 19 total.

The Wildcats will now travel back home to prepare for cross-county opponent Stetson University on Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. The match will be played in Daytona Beach inside Moore Gymnasium on the campus of Bethune-Cookman College.