GREENSBORO
– Momentum has been hard to sustain for the North
Carolina A&T volleyball team this season. The same difficulty
reared its
head again Wednesday night as the Aggies lost to cross-town rival UNC
Greensboro 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-9) at Corbett Sports Center.
Senior Janae Mitchell recorded her sixth career double-double with 11
kills and 10 digs. Senior Tiffany Mellette added nine kills and seven
digs. The Aggies never recovered from a 7-1 run the Spartans put
together in the first set.
The second set wasn't looking much better until Mitchell fueled an 8-1
run with three kills that gave the Aggies a 10-7 lead. The Aggies
extended their lead to as much as four when Tiffany Mellette blazed a
kill in between two Spartan defenders for a 14-10 advantage.
N.C. A&T held a four-point lead late in the set as junior Bridget
McCaskill ended a long rally with a kill that landed in front of a
diving Knerr Kayleigh for a 21-17 lead. But the Aggies momentum came
to
a sudden end and never returned.
After a Mitchell kill gave the Aggies a 22-19 lead, the Spartans
scored
the final six points of the set to take a two sets to nothing lead.
The
Spartans then jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the third set and never
let
the Aggies get any closer than four the rest of the way.
The Spartans improved to 7-9 on the season. For the Aggies, it was
their
first home game in three weeks, and just the second home game of the
season. The Aggies return home Oct. 6 to play High Point University at
6
p.m.
After High Point, the Aggies will jump into their conference season
where they hope to sustain enough momentum to carry them through a
successful conference season thereby erasing a difficult
non-conference
stretch.