EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T finally looked across the net and saw someone other than themselves Friday evening in volleyball action at Moore Gymnasium. After more than 150 days from the original start of the season in August and after three postponements to start the spring season, the Aggies fell to East Carolina in four sets at home (25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 25-14).
Two of the best players in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) history, senior setter Edie Brewer and senior outside hitter Courteney Pitt gave their usual strong performances, with Brewer recording 30 assists and 11 digs and Pitt contributing 16 kills and eight digs.
Junior libero Andrea Laboy-Rivera recorded a game-high 26 digs, and junior hitter Fatimah Shabazz added 11 kills, four digs and three block assists.
"Definitely not the outcome that we expected tonight," N.C. A&T coach Hal Clifton said. "We made too many unforced errors against a very solid ECU team. In close sets, you can't give free points. I'm happy that we competed until the end. We gave a lot of effort to make some plays.
Unfortunately, some of the outcomes didn't land in our favor. Overall, I saw areas where I thought we did well and some areas that we will work on in practice."
The Aggies jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set thanks to two Pitt kills and three ECU attack errors. The Pirates fought back to tie the score at 7. N.C. A&T took a 12-11 lead on a Brewer kill, but an 8-0 run by the Pirates helped them to take control of the set before winning the set.
ECU got off to a faster start in the second set, where they took an 11-6 lead. After a service error made it 11-7, sophomore Mallory Porcher served the Aggies to three straight points that included two service aces and a block assist from Brewer and junior Shaylynn Hall.
After an ECU timeout, the Pirates took a 19-15 lead as a Sydney Kleinman kill forced N.C. A&T to call a timeout. ECU would increase their lead to 22-16 before the Aggies put together a 6-1 run fueled by two Pitt kills and a service ace from Brewer to get to within one at 23-22. But back-to-back ECU kills gave the Pirates the three-point set win and a 2-0 match lead.
N.C. A&T fought off a three-set sweep in the third set. Shabazz led the Aggies with four kills in the third. Pitt added three kills in the set, yet the Pirates tied the set at 21 on Bri Wood's kill. A Pirate service error and a Pitt service ace gave the Aggies a two-point lead, 23-21, but ECU scored the next two points to tie the set at 23. Back-to-back Pirate errors gave the Aggies the two-point set win.
In the fourth set, N.C. A&T never recovered from ECU's 16-7 start. ECU posted a .400 hitting percentage in the fourth, with Wood and Kleinman leading the way. Wood had five kills in the set, and Kleinman had four kills and a block assist in helping the Pirates end the match.
Wood led the Pirates with 15 kills and 13 digs. Alisi Motu'apuaka with 40 assists and 13 digs and Kleinman had 15 kills and 14 digs.
The Aggies return to action with their MEAC opener next week against Norfolk State. The two schools square off Thursday at 4 p.m. and Friday at 1 p.m. in Moore.
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February 06, 2021 at 04:03PM
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Aggies Lose In Four to ECU - NCAT Aggies
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