DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina A&T senior outside hitter Courteney Pitt became the third volleyball player in school history to record 1,000th career kills. In the process, the Aggies won its third consecutive match by defeating chief rival North Carolina Central in three sets (25-23,25-13,25-22) Friday night at McDougald-McLendon Arena.
The Aggies remained undefeated in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play.
"Congrats to Courteney Pitt for earning her 1,000th career kill tonight," associate head coach Blaine Tendler said. "It was a nice team effort tonight. It's always a lot of fun but very mentally demanding playing in rivalry matches."
Pitt joins Arlene Mitchell (2003-06) and Brooke Stamnes (2012-15) in the Aggies 1,000-kill club. Pitt came into the match Friday five kills shy of the milestone. She finished the night with nine kills to give her 1,004 career kills. Pitt's historic kill came in the second set. Sophomore Addy Warfield assisted on the play.
Pitt's numbers also included posting a .462 hitting percentage.
Junior right side hitter Fatimah Shabazz led the team with a match-high 11 kills to go along with two blocks and a .429 hitting percentage. Senior setter Edie Brewer added 20 assists, nine kills, seven digs and two service aces.
Junior outside hitter Amalie Rupertova added six kills and two aces, and Warfield posted 16 assists. The two liberos combined for 20 digs as junior Andrea Laboy-Rivera recorded a match-high 11 digs, and junior Nadia Montalbán-El Hiriche recorded nine digs.
The Aggies (3-1, 3-0 MEAC) recorded a .245 hitting percentage compared to Eagles' .071 hitting percentage.
The Eagles (2-1, 2-1 MEAC) scored the match's first two points. But with Brewer serving, the Aggies scored the next five points to take a 5-2 lead as Rupertova had two kills during the run. The set remained close throughout the first set as an Aggies attack error brought the Eagles to within one at 15-14. However, N.C. A&T scored the next four points as they got kills from Shabazz and Pitt and an ace from Rupertova.
The Aggies kept a steady lead until NCCU put together a 5-1 run to cut the Aggies lead to 24-23. But Brewer ended any hopes the Eagles had by taking a pass from Warfield to slam down a set-winning kill to give the Aggies a one-set advantage.
In the second set, the Aggies roared out to a 9-1 lead. The Eagles did gradually cut the Aggies lead to 15-11. But with Laboy-Rivera serving and the Aggies leading 17-13, the Aggies scored the final eight points to easily win the set. Pitt had five kills in the set.
Both teams grappled back-and-forth, trading leads in the third set. N.C. A&T took a 12-11 lead on a block assist from sophomore Mallory Porcher and junior Macenzie Richards. NCCU tied the set at 17 on a Jasmine Sanders kill.
The Aggies got back-to-back kills from Pitt and another kill from Shabazz to take a 20-17 lead. N.C. A&T never trailed again. The Aggies were on the brink of closing out the set and the match after an Ammaarah Williams attack error gave the Aggies a 24-20 lead. NCCU scored the next two points before a Brewer kill ended the match.
"We were able to be steady in serve receive, which allowed us to hit for a nice .245 for the match," said Tendler. "We were happy with our effort from behind the service line as well tonight. We were able to serve them out of system quite a bit, which helped our block and defense."
Arlanda Faulkner led the Eagles with nine kills and five digs. The Aggies stay in Durham to face NCCU at 4 p.m., Saturday.
