GREENSBORO – A pattern is emerging in the fledgling Coastal Athletic Association volleyball series between North Carolina A&T and Stony Brook University (SBU). The two programs have played three times, and all three matches have gone five sets, including Saturday afternoon's thriller at Moore Gymnasium.
The Aggies survived a blistering rally in the fifth set by the Seawolves to come away with a 3-2 (25-18, 16-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-13) win. The Aggies had an outstanding all-around performance from sophomore setter Leonor Polezzi to improve to 9-6 overall and 4-3 in CAA play. Polezzi finished with 49 assists, 14 digs, four kills, four service aces, and three total blocks. She secured her fifth double-double of the season. The Seawolves got 15 kills and 18 digs from Leoni Kunz but dropped 10-7 overall and 3-4 in league play.
"She was really stated and delivered a great ball tonight," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton about his starting setter. "She made really good decisions on running the offense. She is a talented volleyball player who sees the game from a different perspective. I was proud of her defense because that's one of the things she has been lacking this year.
We had a little conversation about making sure you play all the way around, and that includes playing defense. For us, it's about digging the ball first, and whoever can take the second ball will take the second ball. We've got to keep the ball off the ground, and she did a really nice job of that."
Polezzi was not a part of the two disappointing five-set losses the Aggies had at Stony Brook last season, including one where the Aggies lost a 2-0 set advantage. But she certainly played a significant role on Saturday. Her assist to freshman outside hitter Tyne Ross gave the Aggies an 8-5 lead in the fifth set. A Seawolves attack error followed before a ball handling error by SBU's Torri Henry led to an SBU timeout as the match appeared to be slipping away from the Seawolves.
SBU gathered themselves out of the timeout and scored five straight points to tie the set at 10-10. A&T freshman Luca Radnai halted the Seawolves' momentum with a solo block before a Ross kill gave the Aggies a 12-10 cushion. After an Aggies service error, A&T scored back-to-back again on a Ross kill and a Radnai ace, giving the Aggies set and match point at 14-11. Unfortunately, the Seawolves were not finished causing trouble for A&T.
A kill from Kali Moore and another from Quinn Anderson brought the Seawolves to within one before Ross squeezed a kill underneath the block assist attempt from Ayanna Pierre Louis and Kunz to give the Aggies the first match of the two-match weekend series from Moore Gymnasium.
"The main thing was our energy," said Maya Johnson about SBU's fifth-set comeback. "It kind of dropped during the fifth set and other points in the game. We had to get fired back up and figure out how to uplift each other."
A&T looked uplifted early, producing a .500 hitting percentage to win the first set. SBU returned the favor in the second set, hitting .407 to win by nine. The third set was a little more of a nailbiter as the Seawolves rallied from a 20-12 deficit to cut A&T's lead to 23-21. A kill from sophomore Mikala Sampson gave the Aggies set point at 24-21. SBU scored two straight points, but Hannah Howell's kill gave the Aggies a 2-1 match lead.
Kunz had seven kills in the fourth to force the exciting fifth set. Moore led the Seawolves with 20 kills, and Anderson added 15. Ross led A&T with a season-high 24 kills and posted a .349 hitting percentage. Howell ended the afternoon with kills, and Sampson added nine. Johnson posted seven kills and four total blocks.
The question is, will the Aggies and the Seawolves play in another fifth setter on Sunday as the two teams meet again at 1 p.m. from Moore?
"We are going to look at film in the morning and look at the things we didn't do and did do and readjust and come back and play hard tomorrow," said Jonnson about preparing for the Seawolves on Sunday."
