GREENSBORO (Nov. 11, 2016) – The Aggies celebrated Senior night in an electric Moore Gymnasium Friday as North Carolina A&T took on Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival North Carolina Central.  In a battle to be expected in such a rivalry match, the Aggies lost to the visiting Eagles 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 29-31, 25-23, 13-15).

In the final regular season match, Samara Brown had her sixth double-double with 14 kills and 26 digs, but like the rest of the team, 14 errors plagued her offensively.  Alyssa Pitt stepped up for the Aggies with 20 kills and eight errors on 44 total attacks for a .273 hitting percentage, adding two block assists along the way.  Middle blocker Jasmine Lindor padded her season statistics, totaling one solo block and four block assists.

While both teams struggled to gain momentum offensively, N.C. A&T had 54 kills followed closely by 50 errors leading to their .019 hitting percentage.  The Aggies capitalized on N.C. Central errors in the first set where the Eagles hit -.132 with 10 errors and 5 kills.

Whenever the Aggies found themselves trailing, they managed to find a way to keep the sets close.  In Set 4, N.C. A&T tied the match 2-2 after a 25-23 set win.  The Eagles had a six point lead halfway through the set before the Aggies continued to lessen the gap.  The tides really turned on a powerful kill from Pitt to bring the Aggies within two.  After gaining the lead 24-23, a kill from Brown finished off the set.

The most competitive set of the evening came in Set 3 where the teams fought past the regular 25-point mark before the Eagles clinched the 31-29 victory.  N.C. Central jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before the Aggies came back to tie the set at seven.  The Eagles tried to pull away again with the score 13-10, but N.C. A&T stayed close, fighting back to bring up a 22-22 tie.  The teams went back-and-forth before a service error from Keniah Rivera and kill for the Eagles closed out the set with N.C. Central leading 2-1.

Set 5 brought out the most consistency in the Aggies offense has they had eight kills and five errors to hit .120.  Behind 8-13 late in the set, N.C. A&T put together a string of points thanks to three Eagles errors and kills from Pitt and Christa Wilson, but it was not enough to get the match victory as N.C. Central won 15-13.

The Aggies were stagnant in Set 2, however, producing 12 errors and hitting -.068.  N.C. Central found an opportunity to pull ahead on an attack error by Te'Borah Hawkins-Hollingsworth, giving the Eagles a 20-14 lead.  While the Aggies would match the Eagles in points for the remainder of the set, it was not enough to move into a 2-0 lead.

N.C. A&T (9-14, 6-4 MEAC) finish the regular season hitting .137.  They will face No. 2 northern division seeded Maryland Eastern Shore (17-12, 10-2 MEAC) in the first day of MEAC Tournament competition on Friday, Nov. 18 in Princess Anne, Md.