DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Bethune-Cookman middle blockers constructed a sturdy defensive wall Friday night that was difficult for the North Carolina A&T attackers to knock down. The Wildcats defeated the Aggies in four sets at Moore Gymnasium, 25-20, 25-17, 22-25, 2515, to remain undefeated in MEAC volleyball action.
Coming off her MEAC co-player of the week honor, Aggies senior outside hitter Brooke Stamnes continued to play well. She had 14 kills and eight digs to go along with a .224 hitting percentage. It marked the third straight match Stamnes has recorded double-figure kills and posted a better than .200 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Jasmine Lindor had a superb game as well, posting eight kills, no attack errors, three total blocks and a .667 hitting percentage. Sophomore Alyssa Pitt added 11 kills and seven digs, while senior libero Ashley Johnson finished with a season-high 22 digs.
“Jasmine had a banner night coming off the bench, and Brooke swung well creating a lot of scoring opportunities,” said N.C. A&T head coach Hal Clifton. “We are still learning how not to put ourselves in bad situations, causing us to make unforced errors.”
It was the Wildcat blockers who prevented the Aggies (4-8, 2-2 MEAC) from derailing the Wildcats (7-12, 4-0 MEAC) hot start in league play. Five different Wildcats recorded blocks with four of those players recording three or more total blocks.
Despite the Wildcats tough defense, the Aggies battled to a 17-17 tie in the first set. Later, Stamnes helped the Aggies get to within one on an assists from Liz Martino who had 43 in the game. But the Wildcats put together a 5-1 run to take a 24-19 lead. Pitt tried to keep the Aggies afloat with a kill, but a Pitt attack error ended the first set. B-CU jumped out to a 15-10 lead in the second set and never lost control of the set from there.
N.C. A&T would not let the Wildcats off that easily, however. Lindor played spectacularly in the third set, recording five kills on six total attacks with no errors. Back-to-back Lindor kills gave the Aggies a 17-13 lead. The Wildcats fought to tie the set at 20 before kills from Aleena McDaniel and Pitt put the Aggies ahead by two, 22-20. B-CU eventually cut the lead to one, 23-22, on a N.C. A&T service error. But it was Lindor who responded with a kill before McDaniel ended the set on a service ace.
The fourth set wasn't as prosperous for the Aggies. Eight attack errors helped the Wildcats end the match. Four Wildcats had double figure kills led by Rhea Simon and Delicia Pierre who had 12 apiece. Rakaya Neely was strong as well with 19 attack attempts, no attack errors and 11 kills to go along with a .579 hitting percentage and eight total blocks.
A trip to Tallahassee, Fla., awaits the Aggies next as they take on Florida A&M at 3 p.m., Sunday. The Aggies have not won in Tallahassee since 1998.
