TALLADEGA, Ala. – The Wildcats are showing their West Coast trip is paying dividends on the East Coast. Fort Valley State proved to be too much for Talladega College, 3-0, and evened its men's volleyball season record Tuesday night.

FVSU showed its mettle in the opening two sets as it played tough with a key late five-point run in the opening set and rallied for a four-point lead in second number two for 25-23 and 25-21 wins. The Wildcats wasted no time with the first five points of set three and nine of the opening 10 for a 9-1 lead. Isaiah Fedd pushed it to 10 with a kill and an ace (16-6) and his team enjoyed a 23-8 cushion before ending the match via a 25-12 final.

The FVSU 'W' was its second shutout in a row and more importantly the third victory in a row to even the 2024 season mark to 3-3 after opening the year against three of the country's best powerhouses. FVSU has now won 9 of 10 sets played in the three matches back East.

Jaxon Hicks paced the Wildcat front line with 12 kills, six digs and a block assist. Saferino Dour was one of the various hot hitters with eight kills and one error in 13 swings for a .538 percentage to go with four total blocks and two digs.

Fedd and De'Vonte Payton also had the hot arms with a combined 11 kills in 12 attempts. Fedd hit six winners in seven attacks for a .857 percentage with two blocks and an ace. Payton downed all five of his attacks for a perfect 1.000 percentage. Raheem Thomas added four kills without an error in 11 swings along with five digs and two blocks. Demetrius Paul also killed his lone attack and Marty Boyd had two kills.

Jose Gallardo handed out 18 assists to go with one kill, while Jaequon Henderson had 17 assists and five digs. Diego Cardona dug seven attacks.

In the first set, Hicks hit two kills and was part of a block for an early 6-1 spurt for a 10-6 edge and later helped push the margin to 14-9. The Tornadoes rebounded to pull within a point, 18-17, before a Thomas winner made it 24-21 before the 25-23 final.

Dour's pair of kills gave the Wildcats an early 4-1 advantage of set number two. Talladega came back to tie at 8-8 and later went ahead 19-17. Fedd killed three-straight point as part of the key 7-1 spurt to make it 24-20, before the 25-21 end score.

FVSU will have a week off until it travels to Franklin Springs, Ga., to face Emmanuel College in a 5 p.m. first serve.

-Wildcats-