Freshman shines in weekend invitational

Jim Swing
Sports Editor

In the VCU Invitational this past weekend, Rams volleyball head coach James Finley got something he didn’t see coming.

He’ll admit, when the season is young, getting solid contributions from a freshman can be rare.

But for Cecilia Aragao, there’s been an exception.

The freshman setter totaled 13 kills, 105 assists, 39 digs and an eye-popping .540 average hitting percentage over the weekend.

“This is great,” Finley said with a smile. “It’s been tough because we have two really good setters, and she’s just really performing well, and she’s just a great block for a setter which is really unusual to have. I’m really excited to have a freshman performing so well this early in the season.”

Aragao was one of only two freshman listed to the VCU/Third Degree Sportswear Invitational All-Tournament team.

VCU goes 2-1 in home invitational

After starting the season with seven straight road games, VCU finally returned to the homely confines of the Siegel Center for the VCU Invitational featuring three other schools from the east coast.

In Friday night’s match against Ivy League opponent Cornell, Cecilia Aragao decided to get her weekend started with a splash.

The Brazil native recorded 47 assists, 12 digs and seven kills on top of a .538 hitting percentage to lead the Rams to a 3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 25-16) victory over the Big Red.

Early the next morning, VCU picked up right where it left off, defeating North Carolina A&T 3-0 (25-6, 25-12, 25-11) behind middle blockers Courtney Hott and Jasmine Waters who registered nine kills apiece.

But on Saturday evening, the invitational wouldn’t end the way VCU had originally hoped.

Despite a team-high 37 assists and 21 digs from Aragao, the Rams (5-6) struggled to find leverage, falling 3-1 (26-24, 28-26, 20-25, 25-11) to the Colonials.

“I really like the way that our team fought this weekend,” Finley said. “All in all, I’m pretty happy with the progress, and it’s better play than we did last weekend, and that’s what you want to see as we’re getting close to conference, that we’re improving.”

Big weekend for upperclassmen middle blockers Hott, Farkas

Alongside Cecilia Aragao’s youth movement this weekend, upperclassmen middle blockers Courtney Hott and Annette Farkas enjoyed the spotlight as well.

Hott, a senior, totaled 32 kills along with five digs and a .561 hitting percentage over the course of the weekend.

Finley foresees a few accolades coming her way in the near future.

“What a great opening weekend for (Courtney) Hott,” Finley said. “That’s just phenomenal, that’s huge numbers and we should see her being player of the week.”

Regularly, Farkas doesn’t receive an abundance of playing time and has been used as a utility player.

But this past weekend she made the best of what was given, totaling 19 kills and 11 digs in 15 sets.

“She’s just made great strides and doing a really nice job out there for us,” Finley said. “So I’m really excited because she had limited playing time, played a lot of different positions with us filling in for whatever and she’s kind of getting into her rhythm and her spot, so I’m really excited about what she’s going to bring during conference play.”

Low making fast recovery

After missing the start of the season due to an injured ACL, junior libero Marisa Low practiced for the first time last week.

Finley said she wasn’t expected to start practicing again until Oct. 1, but is making a swift recovery.

Senior transfer Amanda Friday has been filling in for Low at the position in the meantime.

“We’re hoping that she gets released next week to join us and that will be nice having our starting libero back,” Finley said.

Photos by Chris Conway