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Coach Tony Trifonov's crew, disappointed at their 1-2 showing in the Michigan State Inivational a week ago, after coming into the 2004 season ranked in the Top 40 nationally, swept their Saturday match against Maryland, 3-0, and won 3-1 Sunday over Ball State. Florida A&M will face the nationally-ranked University of Washington Friday in the first round of the Boise State University Tournament in Boise, Idaho. •In Friday's upset, the Lady Rattlers knocked off Nebraska, 30-25, 1 Andreina Ruiz added 15 kills and 16 digs; Adriana Kostadinova had 14 kills and 23 digs, while senior setter Mariela Portocarrero had 43 assists and 18 digs. Friday's win made FAMU the first unranked team since Nebraska-Omaha in 1986 to bounce the Huskers at home, and the first unranked non-conference team to beat Nebraska since 1996.
The win over Nebraska was Florida A&M's first over a nationally-ranked opponent since 2002, when they bounced Louisville, 3-2 in the second round of the Georgia Tech Invitational. Last season, the Lady Rattlers pushed nationally-ranked Stanford and Colorado State to five games in a two-day span in the CSU Invitational, then capped off the year with a first-ever opening round NCAA win (3-0 over Winthrop (S.C.) University). •Saturday, FAMU breezed past Maryland, 3-0, winning 30-26, 30-20 and 30-18. •Sunday, Florida A&M had 77 kills and 100 digs in the 3-1 win over Ball State. Andreina Ruiz had 26 digs and Rosa Rojas 22 to lead Florida A&M, which also got 18 digs from Tereza Arellano Sunday. Arellano had 15 kills and Maria Andonova 11 for FAMU, which benefitted from the play of senior setter Mariela Portocarrero, who dished out 64 assists.
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