GREENSBORO
– With
the
backdrop of Senior Night surrounding them, the North Carolina A&T
volleyball team came out playing like a team headed toward an upset
victory. But the Aggies could not sustain their momentum and lost to
Elon Tuesday night 3-1 (19-25, 25-19, 25-10, 25-15).
The Aggies honored seniors Stacey Malone, Janae Mitchell and Tiffany
Mellette along with redshirt junior LaShawn White who will not use her
final year of eligibility. Mitchell ended her Corbett Sports Center
career with 16 kills and 12 digs, earning her seventh career
double-double.
Mellette had 14 digs, White had three blocks and Malone finished four
digs. The foursome will end their careers Monday night when the Aggies
travel to Durham to face N.C. Central at 7.
On Tuesday, the Aggies took control of the first set after a Mellette
kill tied the set at 13. It sparked a 5-0 run that ended with an
attack
error from by Jessica Barrow. The Phoenix never got any closer than
three the rest of the set. The Aggies took their biggest lead on a
crosscourt kill by Bridget McCaskill that gave N.C. A&T a 22-16
lead.
Leading 23-19, the Aggies closed the set with a kill from Mitchell and
a
service ace by Mellette that Mandy Wilson couldn't dig up.
Elon (23-6) continued to have problems with the Aggies in the second
set. After the Aggies fell behind 15-9, a 4-0 run aided by two Phoenix
attack errors moved the Aggies to within two and forced the Phoenix to
call a timeout. A kill by Bree Dotstry and an attack error from Lauren
Copenhagen moved the Aggies to within one at 20-19.
The Phoenix took over from there. Elon scored the final five points of
the set aided by three kills by Caroline Lemke. The Phoenix's
frontline
took over the match in the last two sets to earn the victory.
Both Mellette and Mitchell will finish their careers with more than
500
kills and 500 digs. Malone will finish with close to 800 digs for her
career, while White will put together the best season of her career.