North Carolina
Aggies Win Third Straight With Five-Setter Over UNCW – North Carolina A&T
EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T prolong its successful streak to 3 matches after defeating the UNC Wilmington Seahawks 3-2 (17-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-20, 15-11) Saturday afternoon at Moore Gymnasium in Colonial Athletic Affiliation (CAA) volleyball motion.
“Very thrilling match,” A&T head coach Hal Clifton stated. “We knew it might be a decent match. Wilmington has a really stable workforce. I believed each side would match up effectively towards one another, and we did. It was the end result I had hoped for and anticipated, however I knew getting so far can be robust.”
The Aggies (8-13, 4-7 CAA) have gained 4 of their final 5 matches. In the meantime, UNCW (3-15, 1-8) misplaced its eighth straight CAA match.
The Aggies honored the late nice Aggies volleyball participant Fatimah Shabazz throughout Aneurysm Consciousness Day. Shabazz, a former All-Mid-Japanese Athletic Convention (MEAC) performer, died from an aneurysm final November.
“It was good to get the win as we speak,” Clifton stated. “Particularly since we had been honoring Fatimah with Aneurysm Consciousness Day. Although she shouldn’t be with us, we’ll always remember her or her household.”
Shabazz helped the Aggies win this system’s first-ever convention event title, and on Saturday, the Aggies remained in competition to pursue a CAA event title. A&T’s win, coupled with Stony Brook’s loss to Northeastern, places the Aggies in an eighth-place tie within the CAA standings. The highest-8 groups advance to the convention event.
Sophomores Hannah Howell and Maya Johnson performed important roles in retaining the Aggies in competition. A 4-0 Aggies run within the fifth set included Johnson and Howell scoring on kills. The duo then teamed for a block earlier than graduate Liselotte Spoormakers accomplished the spurt with a kill.
After the Seahawks scored on a service error, the Aggies ran off three extra factors, which included two Spoormakers kills to provide the Aggies a 13-8 benefit. Then, UNCW put collectively a 3-0 run earlier than Howell ended the set and the match with a kill.
Three Aggies recorded double-doubles. Chiara Napoli (Saint-Raphael, France) led the workforce with 26 assists, eight kills, 4 service aces and a career-high 20 digs. Howell recorded 12 kills and 14 digs and added three blocks, and sophomore Naiya Sawtelle (Stuart, Fla.) recorded 10 digs and a match-high 16 kills.
A&T needed to battle to get to a fifth set after shedding a 3rd set, the place the Aggies had set level at 24-23 earlier than the Seahawks ran off three consecutive factors to win and take a 2-1 match lead. Clifton stated he needed his A&T workforce to remain affected person and inside the system after the third-set loss.
“We will go on runs when we have to,” stated Clifton. “We figured that retaining the aggressiveness from the inline, staying regular with our service-receive, would get us again into the match.”
UNCW took an early 14-12, however a 4-0 Aggies run gave the Aggies a 16-14 lead, resulting in a UNCW timeout. The Seahawks steadied themselves to tie the set at 17. However a 7-1 A&T run gave the Aggies set level at 24-18. UNCW scored three straight factors earlier than senior Mallory Porcher and Napoli got here collectively on a block to win the set, forcing a fifth.
Spoormakers added 9 kills, 5 digs, 4 block assists, and two service aces. Senior Addy Warfield added 17 assists and 7 digs, and Johnson added six kills and 7 blocks.
“We’re nonetheless getting higher,” Spoormakers stated. “I believe you can see that as we speak. Within the moments that we wanted to attain, we did. That is what helped us win the match as we speak. I really feel like I did not make too many errors scoring the ball after we wanted it most. However as we speak was a workforce effort. Everybody performed their half. The protection was good. The setting was good. It was a workforce effort as we speak.”