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Time to make room for a men’s volleyball championship banner in HPE Basketball Arena.
Fort Valley State clinched its SIAC regular season championship in program history as it defeated Edward Waters 25-20, 17-25, 25-17, 25-18 on Friday in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Wildcats using multiple setters throughout the match out-hit the Tigers .358 to .248 to remain undefeated in SIAC play and secure the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. In addition, Fort Valley State committed a combined four errors in the final two games and had a match-best .429 attack percentage in the fourth game.
Four Fort Valley State players finished with both at least five kills and a .400 attack percentage.
Outside attacker Chey Cooper led the Wildcats with 13 kills on a .478 attack percentage. Cooper also had a game-high four kills in the opening game, including a kill to cap off a 4-0 run late in the game.
Outside attacker Jaxon Hicks added 11 kills on a .400 attack percentage and did not commit an attack error following the first point of the second game. Middle attacker Raheem Thomas added eight kills and hit .462, while middle attacker Saferino Dour contributed five kills and zero errors on a match-best .714 attack percentage.
Pin-hitter Tavion Ford in the loss had a match-high 19 kills on a .378 attack percentage.
Edward Waters with the loss moves into the No. 2 seed for the SIAC Tournament that will be played next week on its home court. The Tigers are attempting to win back-to-back SIAC Tournament titles but will not be eligible for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the school transition to the NCAA.
Both Fort Valley State and Edward Waters as the top-two seeds will receive byes to the SIAC Tournament semifinals.