GREENSBORO – In their final match at Moore Gymnasium, seniors Ashley Johnson, Aleena McDaniel and Brooke Stamnes gave it their best effort to do something no other senior class has done since 1999 and that's take Florida A&M to five sets. That would have helped them do something no senior class has done since 1998 and that's beat Florida A&M.
But the seniors and their teammates could not quite finish off scoring opportunities in four-set loss to the Rattlers, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23 Sunday evening.
Stamnes did earn her 1,000th career kill as she reached the milestone in the second set. She closed out the match with 16 kills and 11 digs for her 28th career double-double. McDaniel added nine kills with no attack errors and a .391 hitting percentage. McDaniel only has two attack errors in her last four matches. Johnson, the Aggies all-time leader in digs, finished with 24 of them in her final home match.
“It was great to see Brooke get her 1000th kill and to witness that,” said N.C. A&T head coach Half Clifton. “Aleena had a great night all the way around, and she has earned her spot in the record books. AJ just continues to raise the bar in career digs. These three seniors gave it all they had tonight in their farewell match in Moore.”
After the Aggies (7-13, 5-5 MEAC) tied the match at 1 with a second set win, N.C. A&T was down 23-20 in the third. But the Rattlers (7-20, 7-3 MEAC) received a red card for poor sportsmanship which gave the Aggies a point to cut the lead to two. Pamela Soriano put the Rattlers on the verge of winning the set with one of her 20 kills, but McDaniel kept the Aggies in the set with a cross court cutting kill that moved the Aggies to within two, 24-22. Stamnes service ace moved the Aggies to within one before a ball handling error by the Aggies ended the set.
N.C. A&T's chances of forcing a fifth set looked remote after a Starmichael Tucker kill gave the Rattlers a 21-16 lead in the fourth. But two consecutive kills by sophomore Samara Brown and a Rattlers attack error forced the Rattlers to call timeout as the Aggies came within two. FAMU came out of the timeout and was able to hold off the Aggies charge to eventually get to match point at 24-20 on a Tamar Fowler kill.
In her attempt to finally get a win over FAMU in her career, Stamnes posted two kills and received an attack error from FAMU to get the Aggies to within one at 24-23. But those hopes were dashed on a Fowler kill as the Rattlers secured the second seed out of the south for the MEAC tournament Nov. 20-22. The Aggies will enter the tournament as the third seed out of the southern division.
“Tonight was the one that got away,” said Clifton. “We played well enough to win, but I have to give credit to FAMU for making big plays. Our team competes so well, but we weren't able to finish a couple of points. We get some time off to let our bodies heal up and get rested. We played a really good season, and I think it has prepared us for the tournament.”
While it was a great night for the seniors, the Aggies future didn't look too bad either. Brown finished with 13 kills and four block assists, and sophomore Marteen Hill had seven kills no attack errors and a .700 hitting percentage to go along with three total blocks.
