GREENSBORO- The North Carolina A&T volleyball team inched closer to clinching its first-ever Coastal Athletic Conference (CAA) tournament bid with their fifth straight win, a three-set sweep (25-23, 23, 23 ) Piedmont Triad and rival Elon Saturday in Moore Gymnasium.
With the win, the Aggies improved to 14-7 overall and 9-4 in CAA play. While the Aggies are in fifth place, they are now one match out of second and 1 ½ out of first. On the flip side of the math, the Aggies lead Northeastern, the seventh-place team in the league, by three matches with five matches remaining. Â
A&T split a two-match weekend series with Northeastern earlier this season. Once the league considers all tiebreakers, the top six teams will qualify for the 2024 CAA Volleyball Championship Tournament, November 21-23, in Towson, Md. The Phoenix, who are in a fight for the sixth and final tournament berth with the likes of Northeastern and Stony Brook, dropped to 11-13 overall and 5-8 in CAA play as the two teams prepare to play again on Sunday at 3 p.m., from Moore.
"I thought we performed really well," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "We knew it was going to be a battle; we knew it was going to be tough."
Freshman Tyne Ross led the Aggies, recording her fourth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 12 digs. Senior Hannah Howell added 11 kills. Sophomore Leonor Polezzi posted her third straight double-double and her ninth of 2024 with 36 assists and 10 digs. A&T's versatile setter also tallied five blocks.
All three matches on Saturday were super competitive. A&T started strong in the first set, taking a 5-1 lead before Elon called a timeout to gather themselves. It worked. Elon rallied to knot the score at 6-6. It was a back-and-forth match until the Aggies went on a 3-0 run to pull ahead 13-9. Elon, however, would not go away and stormed back to tie the set at 19.
Elon tied the match again, this time at 22-22 before a Ross kill gave the Aggies a one-point advantage. Elon's Clara LaRue tied the set again on a kill before a Howell kill, and a block assist from freshman Luca Radnai and Polezzi gave the Aggies a 1-0 match lead. Elon got a quick 3-1 lead in the second set before the Aggies offense exploded and went on a 9-1 spurt to take a 10-4 lead.
A&T maintained a comfortable lead after Ross slammed another kill, putting the Aggies ahead 20-14. But the Phoenix came storming back again. A 7-1 Elon rally tied the set at 21-21. Elon even took the lead, 23-22, on a Sydney Love kill. But on Love's next attack, Radnai and Polezzi teamed for another block assist. That was followed by a Howell service ace and another Radnai/Polezzi block assist to give the Aggies a 2-0 match advantage.
There were no comfortable leads in the third set. Neither team led by more than two points until the Aggies went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-9 lead, forcing a timeout by Elon. Out of the break, the Phoenix went on a 5-0 run to take a 14-13 lead. Elon looked poised to force a fourth set, taking a 21-19 lead on a Cameron Lanier kill. The lead remained two when Caroline Berlekamp and Lindsey Harris teamed for a block assist to put Elon ahead 23-21.
Once again, however, the Aggies got rolling toward the end of the set. Howell started the party with back-to-back kills before sophomore libero Valeria Estrada gave the Aggies match and set point with an ace. Howell finished off the Phoenix with another kill. Love led the Phoenix with 11 kills.
