Sept. 20, 2011
Final Stats
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Winston-Salem State's Kiara Brown is one of the better setters in the CIAA.
And that played right into Fayetteville State's hands.
Possessed with one of the top service games in the nation for the second straight year, the Lady Broncos made the Winston-Salem State Lady Rams work for whatever offensive attack they could set up, using that advantage to cruise to a straight-set victory in CIAA volleyball on Tuesday night at Felton J. Capel Arena.
Ranked fifth in the country in service aces per set - Fayetteville State was No. 1 in that category in 2010 - the Lady Broncos (9-8, 6-2, 2-0 Southern Division) put the Lady Rams under relentless pressure with its service on their way to a 25-23, 25-20, 25-15 victory. The win was the sixth in the last eight matches for Fayetteville State.
"We knew (Brown) was one of the best setters in the CIAA, so we knew we had to do everything we could to keep the ball away from her," said Fayetteville State coach Reeshemah Johnson said. "We pride ourselves on our service, and knew that if we could have a good serving game, we could really limit their offensive attack."
That is exactly what happened, as the Lady Broncos recorded 10 service aces - four from Decausha McLean (So., Laurinburg, N.C.) and two each from Octavia Wynn (Jr., Hope Mills, N.C.), Joi Emanuel (Jr., Charlotte, N.C.) and Nikita Cheadle (So., Hope Mills, N.C.) - routinely finding holes in the Lady Rams' defense.
JaMisha Jordan (So., Fayetteville, N.C.), who finished with 18 assists, ranks fifth in the country in service aces while Emanuel, who led all players with 11 kills, is No. 32.
Wynn added eight kills and four digs while Cheadle had a game-high eight digs.
Avoni Seymour led Winston-Salem State with eight kills.
Fayetteville State, after playing six games in three days at the weekend CIAA Roundup, got off to a sluggish start against Winston-Salem State, which recorded the same record (4-2) as the Lady Broncos at the roundup. The Lady Rams (4-8, 4-3, 0-1) jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 11-6 in the first set.
But once the Lady Broncos got their service going, there was little Winston-Salem State could do. Fayetteville State ripped off a 13-2 run to take a 19-13 lead, and though the Lady Rams responded with a 7-0 spurt to regain the lead, the Lady Broncos prevailed after scoring the set's final three points, getting a kill from Wynn and a block from Wynn and LaToya Harvin (Fr., Belle Glade, Fla.) to preserve the victory.
After that, it was virtually all Fayetteville State. After the teams traded points early, the Lady Broncos used four service aces in the second set to go on an 11-4 tear and build a 22-13 lead.
In the third set, Fayetteville State started fast and stayed that way, scoring 14 of 18 points in one stretch to build a 17-7 advantage. Unable to break serve with any sort of regularity, the Lady Rams suffered under the Lady Broncos' assault.
Fayetteville State will travel to play Livingstone on Friday before participating in a tri-match with Lenoir-Rhyne and Coker on Saturday. The Lady Broncos return home to face St. Augustine's, which finished 5-1 at the roundup, at 6 p.m. on Monday.
