Spring Sports Preview
posted by Ja'Shawn Steward-Johnson | March 2, 2018 | In News, SportsThe Fayetteville State University sports teams did relatively well in the fall, earning two championship appearances and one championship title. In the fall, the Broncos’ football team rode a late five-game win streak to the CIAA Championship and the Broncos’ volleyball squad go 21-10, including 13-3 in the conference. The Fayetteville State Women’s Cross Country team won their first-ever CIAA Women’s Cross-Country championship. Head coach Inez Turner won Coach of the Year and freshman Aleena Cruz was named Athlete of the Year.
For the spring semester, Fayetteville State hopes to build on the standard set by the football, volleyball, and the cross country squads and win even more championships. More than six-plus sports programs of Fayetteville State will take their respective fields and courts. Here is an overview of the spring semester Broncos’ sports programs:
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: The Broncos are on a very impressive eight-game winning streak led by leading scorer Shantel Bennett, who averages 11.4 points a game on 50% shooting. She has been aided by preseason All-CIAA player Yakima Clifton. Clifton is chipping in 10.4 points per game and a team-leading 6.2 rebounds per game. As a collective, the Broncos have really upped their play in conference contests and they have a very good chance of going deep in the CIAA tournament. The Broncos are 12-9 overall and 7-5 in conference games, which is good for first in the Southern division.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: The Broncos men’s basketball team are 7-16 overall and 4-8 in the conference. The men have been reeling and with just a few games left in the season, these Broncos are running out of time to gel before the CIAA Tournament. Despite the team’s struggle, the Broncos’ Josh Bryant has been outstanding, averaging 16 points a game and 4.5 rebounds per game.
BOWLING: Last year, the Fayetteville State women bowling team went 54-8. This year, the Broncos’ women bowling team has yet to lose and is arguably the best sports program Fayetteville State has. Before the season, the CIAA predicted these Broncos to win the CIAA Championship and named five FSU players to the preseason All-CIAA team– Brittany Worthy, Savannah Starling, Veronica Colon-Santiago, Paige Brayboy, and Lola Neal. A December poll by the National Tenpin Coaches Association ranked the Broncos 21st in the sport of NCAA bowling.
SOFTBALL: With the season just getting started, the Broncos have already played series against Benedict and crosstown rivals Methodist University. Next Friday (Feb 23rd), the Broncos will be back home in Lamon St. Park to play Claflin. These Broncos, led by 2017 first team All-CIAA catcher Shi-Cara Goins are looking to build on their 2017 campaign, in which FSU went 23-17 and 13-3 in the conference before losing in the second round of the CIAA Championship. There are also four other Broncos that earned either second team all-conference or all-rookie honors on this year’s squad: 1B HaLee Knowles, outfielder Maggie Smith, and outfielder Rachel Rodriguez.
TENNIS: Sunday (Feb 11th), the tennis season kicked off for the Broncos against Salem University. Feb. 24th, Fayetteville State will play their second match of the season against Methodist. The squad hopes to be better than last season’s 3-11 campaign while returning only one player from last year.
GOLF: March 11th, the Fayetteville State golf program returns to the green courses in the VSU Trojans Spring Classic. Previously in October, the Broncos placed 6th in the Emory Fall Classic and placed 7th in the VSU Fall Trojans Classic. The Spring Classic will serve as a warmup to the CIAA Northern Divisional Championship twelve days later.
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