WINSTON-SALEM STATE CAPS CIAA CHAMPIONSHIP POOL PLAY BY STUNNING CHOWAN

WINSTON-SALEM STATE CAPS CIAA CHAMPIONSHIP POOL PLAY BY STUNNING CHOWAN

WSSU, Chowan, Fayetteville State and St. Augustine's advance to CIAA Semifinals

November 4, 2011

HAMPTON, VA. -- Winston-Salem State pulled off the shocker of pool play on Friday night, stunning previously-league unbeaten Chowan 3-2 at the CIAA Volleyball Tournament at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, Va.

The Lady Rams handed the two-time defending CIAA champion Lady Hawks their first CIAA loss of the season, winning the match by the scores of 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 21-25 and 15-12.

Winston-Salem State (19-10) finished pool play unbeaten, and will take Pool A's top seed into Saturday's semifinals, where the Lady Rams will face Pool B's second-seeded team, St. Augustine's. The Lady Falcons earned that No. 2 seed by the slimmest of tiebreakers, having won seven sets on the day versus Elizabeth City State's six. That semifinal match will take place at 5 p.m.

In the other semifinal, Southern Division champion Fayetteville State will face off against Northern Division champ Chowan (25-7) at 7 p.m. The Lady Broncos, who like St. Augustine's and Elizabeth City State finished pool play 2-1, earned the top seed after winning eight sets on the day. That semifinal matchup will be played at 7 p.m.

Even in their third defeat at the hands of Elizabeth City State, the Lady Broncos came out on the winning end, taking two sets from the Lady Vikings in the 3-2 loss to give them the tiebreaker edge.

Francesca Edgerton and Avoni Seymour had 12 kills apiece to pace the Lady Rams' attack against Chowan, getting an additional 11 kills from Adrienne Alexander. Kiara Brown led the Lady Rams with 42 assists.

Edgerton also had a match-high 21 digs to go with five service aces while Seymour and Brittany Rich had 17 digs apiece to stave off the Lady Hawks' attacks.

Tori Lewis and Monica Ruffin had 15 kills apiece for Chowan while Karina Monroe added 11 kills. Callie Armistead had a match-high 48 assists while Lewis had 16 digs.

The Lady Vikings managed their win over the Lady Broncos by the scores of 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 16-25 and 15-6 to snap Fayetteville State's six-match winning streak. But it wasn't enough for Elizabeth City State to advance in the tournament.

Lia Scott led the Lady Vikings (18-12) with 14 kills while Kyla Shute had 12 and Regan Simpson added 36 assists.

Fayetteville State (20-13) was led by Octavia Wynn's 13 kills. Joi Emanuel had 11 and Ifeyinwa Nwokolo had 10 while JaMisha Jordan led all players with 36 assists. Wynn had 17 digs and Jordan had 16.

Winston-Salem State won both of the regular season meetings against Southern Division rival St. Augustine's, winning by the scores of 3-2 and 3-0.

Chowan knocked off Fayetteville State 3-1 at the CIAA Roundup in the teams' only meeting on Sept. 17.

The CIAA Championship match will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday.



In Friday's other action:

POOL A

S NO. 2 WINSTON-SALEM STATE 3, N NO.3 VIRGINIA UNION 0

DeAnn Smith picked up nine kills while Kiara Brown had 26 assists as Winston-Salem State downed Virginia Union in straight sets in Pool A play on Friday from the opening day of the CIAA Volleyball Tournament in Hampton, Va.

Francesca Edgerton added seven kills while Brown led all players with five service aces as Winston-Salem State moved on with a 26-24, 25-21, 25-16 victory.

Brittany Rich had a match-high 14 digs for the Lady Rams (17-10) while Kayla Brass chipped in 11 digs.

Aisha Berkley and Kristin Madison had six kills apiece to lead the Lady Panthers (10-22), who got 19 assists from Demi Shrader.

S NO. 2 WINSTON-SALEM STATE 3, S NO. 4 LIVINGSTONE 0

De Ann Smith had 12 kills and Lauren Akins had 10 as the Lady Rams picked up their second win of the day in pool play of the CIAA Volleyball Tournament, beating Livingstone in straight sets on Friday.

Kiara Brown had 26 assists as Francesca Edgerton added four service aces and five digs for Winston-Salem State (18-10), which won by the scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 28-26.

Phylicia Egbuna led the Lady Blue Bears with 12 kills while Natalia Felix had 22 assists. Iman Islon recorded a match-high nine digs.

Winston-Salem State enters its nightcap match with league unbeaten Chowan unblemished in pool play, virtually assuring itself a spot in Saturday's semifinals.

N NO. 1 CHOWAN 3, S NO. 2 LIVINGSTONE 0

Two-time defending CIAA Champion Chowan had little trouble in its first match of the day in Pool A play on Friday, routing Livingstone in straight sets.

With 17 kills from Tori Lewis and 11 from Karina Monroe, Chowan romped past the Lady Blue Bears by the scores of 25-10, 25-14 and 25-15 in the CIAA Tournament's opening day.

Chowan's Callie Armistead added 20 assists while Allison Smith had 13. Tara Thomalla led all players with 24 digs while Lewis had 14 and Monica Ruffin 10.

Nicole Wilmore led Livingstone with five kills. Iman Islom had 10 digs.

N NO. 1 CHOWAN 3, N NO. 4 VIRGINIA UNION 0

Chowan used a balanced attack game to sweep the Virginia Union Lady Panthers in the second match of pool play on Friday. Four players had six or more kills for the Hawks (25-6) as they won by scores of 25-17, 25-16, 25-23.

Tori Lewis and Monica Ruffin led the way with nine kills apiece, while Nikira Fults and Karina Monroe added six each. As a team, Chowan hit .269, compared to just .089 for Virginia Union.

Callie Armistead recorded 20 assists and Lewis led the team with ten digs. Ruffin and Tara Thomalla each added eight digs.

Chowan will close pool play with a 7 P.M. matchup against the no. 2 seed from the South Division, Winston-Salem State University. The Lady Rams are also 2-0 so far in pool play today.

N NO. 3 VIRGINIA UNION 3, S NO. 4 LIVINGSTONE 0

Kristin Madison had 15 kills while Demi Shrader set up 32 assists to go with 11 digs as Virginia Union swept past Livingstone in straight sets in Pool A play on the opening day of the CIAA Volleyball Tournament on Friday.

Aisha Berkley led all players with 15 digs while Elizabeth Parsons added 13 for the Lady Panthers, who won by the scores of 25-20, 27-25 and 25-16.

Shrader and Brittanee Adams had three services aces apiece for Virginia Union.

Phylicia Egbuna led Livingstone with 13 kills while Natalia Felix had 21 assists.



POOL B

S N0. 3 ST. AUGUSTINE'S 3, N NO. 2 ELIZABETH CITY STATE 0

The Saint Augustine’s College Lady Falcons handed the Elizabeth City State University volleyball team a three set loss 25-23, 25-17, 25-10 Friday morning at the Boo Williams Sportsplex.

The loss drops ECSU to 16-12 overall while Saint Augustine’s improves to 14-15 on the year. This is the second setback ECSU has suffered at the hands of the Lady Falcons who defeated them in a five set rally at the CIAA roundup back in September.

Lady Falcon All-CIAA performers Kathryn Tokarski and Keisha Parris held true to form with 12 and 10 kills respectively.

As a team ECSU was stunted by their attack errors in the three set match. The Lady Viking amassed almost as many errors (24) as kills (26). Their service game was also out of sync with 10 service errors.

ECSU will look to rebound in the double elimination tournament at 1:00pm when they take on Virginia State University and will wrap day one’s competition at 7:00pm against Fayetteville State.

S NO. 1 FAYETTEVILLE STATE 3, N NO. 4 VIRGINIA STATE 0

Joi Emanuel had a match-high 14 kills while JaMisha Jordan added 29 assists as the Southern Division champion Lady Broncos cruised past Virginia State in straight sets in an early match of Pool B on Friday in the CIAA Tournament at the Boo Williams Complex in Hampton, Va.

Octavia Wynn added eight kills while LaToya Harvin chipped in seven as Fayetteville State (19-12) won by the scores of 25-17, 25-18 and 25-6 over the Lady Trojans (10-18), the No. 4 seed from the CIAA's Northern Division.

Decausha McLean had nine digs for the Lady Broncos, who next face St. Augustine's at 3 p.m. on Friday. Emanuel, McLean and Nikita Cheadle each had two service aces for the Fayetteville State.

Meagan Whiten led Virginia State with seven kills while Jasmine Henderson had 17 assists. The Lady Trojans next play Elizabeth City State at 1 p.m.

NO. 2 N ELIZABETH CITY STATE 3, N NO. 4 VIRGINIA STATE 0

Whitney Green and Kyla Shute kept Elizabeth City State's CIAA Tournament hopes alive by recording 11 kills apiece in a straight set victory over Virginia State in Pool B play on the first day of the CIAA Volleyball Tournament in Friday.

Elizabeth City State, which had lost its first match of the day in straight sets to St. Augustine's, defeated Virginia State by the scores of 25-15, 25-15 and 27-25 to hand the Lady Trojans their second loss of the day.

Regan Simpson had a match-high 32 assists in the victory as the Lady Vikings' defense was exemplary, getting 21 digs from Oasis Ellison, 16 from Shute and 11 from Lia Scott to get Elizabeth City State (17-12) back on the winning track.

Jasmine Davis had a team-high six kills for Virginia State (10-19), which got 20 assists from Jasmine Henderson.

S NO. FAYETTEVILLE STATE 1, S NO. 3 ST. AUGUSTINE'S 1

Three players had 12 or more kills as Fayetteville State remained unbeaten in pool play after clipping St. Augustine's 3-1 on the first day of the CIAA Volleyball Tournament on Friday.

Octavia Wynn had 14 kills while LaToya Harvin had 13 and Ifeyinwa Nwokolo had 12 as the Lady Broncos put themselves in prime position to advance to Saturday's CIAA semifinals after winning by the scores of 21-25, 25-23, 25-19 and 25-23.

Fayetteville State (20-12), which has won its last six matches, won earlier in the day against Virginia State and will face the Northern Division's No. 2 seed Elizabeth City State in Pool B's nightcap.

JaMisha Jordan added 43 assists and 12 digs while Decausha McLean matched her with 12 digs, sharing the team-high. Joi Emanuel, who also had eight kills, had a match-high five service aces while McLean had four.

Keisha Parris led all players with 20 kills for St. Augustine's (14-16) which also got 13 kills from Kathryn Tokarski, who added a match-high 16 digs. Roxanne Smith had 35 assists.

S NO. 3 ST. AUGUSTINE'S 3, N NO.4 VIRGINIA STATE 0

St. Augustine's completed its Pool B play 2-1 after defeating Virginia State in straight sets in the CIAA Tournament's opening round on Friday.

Kathryn Tokarski and Victoria Davis had 12 kills apiece to pace the Lady Falcons (15-16), who got 33 assists from Roxanne Smith. Tokarski added a match-high 15 digs while Brittany Hicks had 10. Davis chipped in five blocks.

Nikkisha Walker led Virginia State (10-20) with five kills. The Lady Trojans finished pool play winless, failing to take even a set.