Fayetteville, NC – October 31, 2019 – It was a trick and treat type of night in the Felton J. Capel Arena as Fayetteville State Broncos swept the Claflin Panthers 3-0. The Broncos improved to 11-6 overall, 11-1 in the CIAA standings and 7-1 in the Southern Division. The Panthers dropped to 6-14, 5-8, and 2-6.
The trick was, just before the first serve, the lights and sound went out. Everyone paused and looked around waiting for the punch line of a Halloween prank, but news began circulating that power was out for most of the Fayetteville area. The outage lasted a little over an hour as fans clung to their mobile devices and the Broncos entertained all with music and dancing from a battery powered Bluetooth speaker.
After power was restored and the match resumed, Fayetteville State jumped to an early 6-2 lead behind
Chynna Hunt (Summerville, SC) who finished with a match-high 13 kills.
Taylor Drayton was one of the best attackers for Claflin with six kills for the match. She helped the Panthers close the early scoring gap to trail FSU 8-9.
FSU preceded to two 5-0 runs for a 20-10 lead and closed out the set with a 5-1 run.
Claflin played the Broncos a little closer in the second set, down by two at the 10-12 score.
Casandra Watson (Grifton, NC) scored seven of her 12 kills in the second stanza to lead FSU to a 25-20 victory and a 2-0 advantage.
Jessica Williams (Hiram, GA) was the highlight of the third set with seven of her 12 kills as the Broncos dominated 25-9.
Nakia McKinney (Niceville, FL) and
Da'Nesha Miller (Hilton Head Island, SC) helped the effort with 20 and 16 assists, respectively.
Nia Richardson (Franklinton, NC) finished with 14 digs and Watson chipped in ten.
Fayetteville State will travel to Saint Augustine's on Tuesday, November 5
th for a 6 pm match.
