FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. – The Wildcats put it together in back-to-back Friday matches. Fort Valley State posts its first two 2025 men's volleyball victories as it ran out to a five-point fifth set lead and took care of Barry University, 3-2, and later swept past host Emmanuel College, 3-0.
Isaiah Fedd and Oshane Farquharson each downed a kill and ended a set for 25-20 and 25-18 finals and a 2-0 FVSU lead. Barry battled back and tied the match with 25-20 and an extra point 26-24 fourth set and 2-2 tie. The Wildcats, though, rebounded and never trailed in the match-deciding set. Fedd and Farquharson downed opening winners and built leads of 8-3 and eventually 13-5. The two foes split the last five tallies before Farquharson pounded the final point, 15-8.
In the second match, FVSU (2-4) established itself early on against the home team. Trailing 11-10 midway through the first set, the Wildcats ran off eight-straight points and Jaxon Hicks ended the set at 25-17 with a kill. Tied at 18-18 in set number two, Khairi Mitchell served up an ace and Farquharson killed a point as part of three points in a row and FVSU led the rest of the way until the 25-20 final. Trailing 16-14 in the third, Fedd slammed back-to-back points and he teamed with Taviian Martin on a tandem block for a 17-16 lead and rode the momentum to a match-ending 25-21 score.
With the two wins, FVSU went to 2-4 on the season. The Wildcats hit well over .333 in both matches. FVSU recorded a .358 mark in the first match and followed with a .333 percentage in the late match. In the fifth set against Barry, FVSU downed eight kills without an error in 11 attacks for a top .727 percentage in sealing the win.
Along the frontline, Fedd combined for 34 kills with 7 errors in 55 attacks for a .491 percentage in eight sets. The junior hit 23 kills at a .514 rate with four digs, two aces and two blocks versus Barry. He added 11 kills at .450 percentage to go with nine digs, four blocks and three assists.
Farquharson handed out 63 assists in eight sets at 7.88 per set. The senior also hit .571 for the day with 14 kills with two errors in 21 swings. He added 11 digs and four blocks.
Hicks contributed double-digit kills in each match with 12 kills (.429) and 11 kills with four blocks and eight digs.
Raheem Thomas added nine kills and 10 digs, while Martin downed nine kills, 10 blocks, all in the second match, and three digs. Constantine Ononye dug 19 attacks, 13 in the first match, and had four assists. Muhammad Mbaye added seven kills, six in the second match, four blocks, two aces and a pair of digs.
Kevin Charles rounded out three blocks and a kill and Marty Boyd had two kills and two blocks.
FVSU flies to Reno, Nev., where it plays in the two-day Silver State Showcase starting next Friday, Jan. 31, against nationally-ranked Long Beach State. First serve will be at 4 p.m. PST/7 p.m. EST.
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