Sept. 1, 2004

Winston-Salem, NC - The Winston-Salem State University Lady Rams' volleyball team started out the 2004 season with a bang on Wednesday evening as they earned a 3-1 match victory over the visiting Lady Bears of Shaw University in a non-divisional CIAA volleyball contest.

The first game between the two teams was a see-saw affair that saw neither team able to firmly pull ahead of the other until the Lady Rams used an 18-6 run late in the game to pull ahead by the score of 25-16 en route to the opening-game victory.

Highlights of the first game included newcomer Cherena Douglass' (Fr./MH/Springfield, IL) five kills as she posted a perfect 1.00 hitting percentage. She was joined by two-time First-Team All-CIAA outside hitter Chasity Clark (Sr./OH/Winston-Salem, NC) who recorded three kills and four digs in the game.

The second game was marred by Lady Ram errors in the early going, enabling the Lady Bears to jump out quickly to an 11-6 lead. However, WSSU used a time-out to rattle off a 10-3 rally and pull ahead by the score of 16-14. The game remained tight for the duration as the teams would go to a late timeout tied 27-27. It would be the rookie who was the go-to Lady Ram yet again as WSSU used a Douglass kill and block to end the game by the score of 30-28 and pull ahead in the match, two games to one.

Three was definitely not a charm for the Lady Rams as they fell behind by the score of 7-1 only moments into the third game. Shaw built their lead to as many as ten points in the game, eventually leading 21-11 and never looked back as they cruised to a 30-23 win to cut their match deficit to only a single game at 2-1.

Showing the perseverance of a champion, WSSU rebounded nicely in the fourth game and ended the Lady Bears' hope for a comeback as they earned the three games to one match victory by the score of 30-17.

With the win, the Lady Rams improve to 1-0 overall (1-0 CIAA, 0-0 Western Division) while the Lady Bears fall to 0-1 overall (0-1 CIAA, 0-0 Eastern Division).

WSSU returns to action on September 3rd as they travel to Monroe, NC for the Wingate Tournament.

For more information on the Lady Rams, log on to the Official Website of WSSU Athletics at www.wssurams.com