EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T started the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) schedule with a convincing three-set win (25-18, 25-16, 25-14) over Norfolk State at Moore Gymnasium on Thursday.
Junior middle blocker Fatimah Shabazz led the Aggies with a game-high 12 kills and added six digs and three blocks with a .292 hitting percentage. Senior setter Edie Brewer added a game-high 19 assists and a game-high 12 digs for her second consecutive double-double to start the year. Brewer also added seven kills, a block, two service aces and a .393 hitting percentage to her totals.
Junior middle blocker Shaylynn Hall led the team with a game-high five blocks, including two solo blocks, and added seven kills with a .636 hitting percentage. Junior libero Andrea Laboy-Rivera added nine digs and five assists with a service ace.
Junior outside hitter Amalie Rupertova added five kills, while sophomore setter Addy Warfield added 12 assists and five digs.
"We are very pleased to start our conference play with a win over a very new Norfolk State," N.C. A&T coach Hal Clifton said. "I thought our players played very physically at the net and were aggressive with their swings. Shaylynn and Fatimah did a very good job at point-scoring both blocking and attacking. I was pleased with our side out game. All-in-all, I felt like we played a good match."
The start of the match was very close as neither team could get more than a two-point lead. A 6-1 spurt gave N.C. A&T a working lead at 14-8 as Hall and Shabazz had two kills apiece during the run. The Spartans scored the next three points to cut the lead back to three points, 14-11, but the Aggies got a kill apiece from Hall, sophomore Mallory Porcher and senior Courteney Pitt to go along with two NSU attack errors to take a 19-11 lead.
N.C. A&T's lead grew to as many as nine, 22-13, before they finished off the set with an Edie Brewer kill.
The Aggies (1-1, 1-0 MEAC) dominance continued from there. They jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the second set. The Spartans (1-4, 0-1 MEAC) never got any closer than six the rest of the set as the Aggies lead grew to nine at 22-13. Shabazz finished off the second set with a kill to give the Aggies a 2-0 match lead. Shabazz had five kills in the second set.
N.C. A&T scored the first six points of the final frame for a 6-0 lead, but Norfolk State scored the next three points to cut the lead to three points, 6-3. Norfolk State tried to stay close. A kill by Taylor Eichelberger put the Spartans down 9-5. The Aggies responded by scoring on a ball handling error followed by a beautiful service ace from Addy Warfield to take an 11-5 lead.
The Aggies cruised from there. A Brewer kill gave the Aggies a 14-8 advantage. The lead ballooned to eight, 18-10, on Tasmyn Fahey and Brewer block assists. The Aggies won the set by 11 on another Brewer kill.
Eichelberger and Paola Matos led the Spartans with nine kills each. The Aggies face Norfolk State at 1 p.m., Friday in Moore Gymnasium before starting a four-match road trip beginning with two in Durham, N.C., to face N.C. Central, Feb. 18-19.
