Sep. 5, 2004

Monroe, NC - The Winston-Salem State University Lady Rams Volleyball team had a very difficult weekend this past Friday and Saturday, as they dropped their first three contests of the season while participating in the Wingate University Volleyball Tournament in Monroe, NC.

The Lady Rams went into the tournament knowing that they would be facing three perennial volleyball powers in CIAA rival St. Augustine's College, and two non-conference opponents in Queens College (Charlotte), and the host team, Wingate University.

The Lady Rams started off the tournament on Friday evening in a match against the 2002 CIAA Champion, St. Augustine's College Lady Falcons in a grudge match. The Lady Falcons proved why there are the most dominant volleyball team in CIAA and one of the best in the nation, as they dispatched a very tough Lady Ram team in three games, 30-14, 30-15, and 30-17. The Lady Rams fell to 0-1 on the season, yet despite the loss had solid performances from their team leaders, and looked to be in good shape for the rest of the tournament.

Saturday would get no easier for the Lady Rams as they would be forced into matches with two very difficult volleyball teams. First up would be Queens College (Charlotte). The two teams would look to be very evenly matched, but defensive lapses, and unforced errors would prove to be the Lady Rams undoing as they would eventually fall 30-14, 30-24, 30-21, to fall to 0-2 on the season. The Lady Rams made it a contest in games two and three, but the slow start in game one would prove to be a hole too big for WSSU to dig out of.

The final match of the Tournament, and the final match of the opening weekend for the Lady Rams saw WSSU face the host team, Wingate University. Again the Lady Rams looked to be in good shape, however, the first game would prove to be deceiving as the Lady Rams fell 30-17. Game two and game three would be witness to a Lady Ram implosion as road-weary legs would lead to WSSU dropping the final two games, and the match, 30-13 and 30-17 to go winless on the weekend.

Commenting on the weekend, Head Coach Lataya Hilliard-Gray said the following:

"Despite the three losses, I feel that we played very well in our opening weekend. We were faced with three exceptionally strong teams, two of which we had never played before (Queens and host-team Wingate). Of course, we don't like to start 0-3 on the season, but we think that facing the caliber of competition that we faced this weekend is a good measuring stick of where we are as a program, and what our strengths and weaknesses are. We think that this tournament helped to tune us up for the long haul of the 2003 season."

With the three losses, the Lady Rams fall to 0-3 on the season. Winston-Salem State will return to action on September 10th, 2003 when they play host to arch CIAA rival Fayetteville State at 6:00 pm.