TOWSON, Md. – North Carolina A&T volleyball did not advance in the 2024 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Championship Tournament on Thursday, but A&T's program advanced in so many ways in 2024 as it awaits a possible opportunity at postseason play.
On Thursday, the Hofstra Pride defeated the Aggies in three sets (25-14, 14, 20) at Towson University's TU Arena and will face the No. 1 overall seed College of Charleston Friday at 3 p.m. from TU Arena. The Aggies dropped to 17-10 overall after hitting only minus-.011 for the match.
"This was definitely not one of our better matches," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton, who recently won CAA coach of the year. "We pretty much struggled from the start. We picked a bad time to not play up to our caliber. You have to give Hofstra credit. They played an outstanding match. We didn't win a single category tonight."
A&T could not get its offense going early, hitting minus-.185 in the first set. The Aggies appeared to gather themselves in the second set. CAA rookie of the year Tyne Ross scored on a kill to bring the Aggies to within two at 14-12. But the Pride outscored the Aggies 11-2 over the remainder of the set to take a 2-0 match lead.
There was more fight in the Aggies in the third set after they fell behind 15-7 on an attack error. A Ross kill sparked a 5-0 A&T run that culminated with a service ace from sophomore Leonor Polezzi to bring the Aggies to within three at 15-12. Unfortunately, the Pride went on another spurt, outscoring A&T 5-1 to take a 20-13 lead.
However, an attack from Hofstra's Beatriz Braga capped off a 6-2 spurt from A&T that included three kills from Hannah Howell, cutting Hofstra's advantage to 22-19. Yagmur Cinel answered for Hofstra with a kill, and an Aggies ballhandling error gave the Pride set and match point. A Ross kill kept the Aggies alive momentarily before Cinel helped the Pride improve to 19-9 with a kill that ended the match.
"Today does not take away from the year that we have had," said Clifton, who saw his team win as many matches this season as it has won the past two seasons combined. "I'm so proud of our team and the work they put in. We earned that (tournament) spot with some fantastic play over the season. We beat the teams we had to beat and battled two of the top four teams on the road."
Clifton's squad played superbly at home, going 9-2, where they beat the CAA tournament's top seed Charleston twice at Moore Gymnasium. The Aggies also got a critical win over the tournament's No. 6 seed Stony Brook at home. Meanwhile, the Aggies had to go on the road to face Towson and Hofstra, the No. 3 and 4 seeds, respectively.
Ross led the Aggies with eight kills, and Howell, a second-team All-CAA selection, added seven. Sophomore Mikala Sampson added four total blocks. Izadora Stedile led the Pride with 10 kills and 17 digs. The Aggies have previously secured at-large bids to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship tournament. The selection show is on Sunday, December 1, 2024.
"This was a good experience for our returners," said Clifton. "Our seniors did an excellent job this season helping guide us to some firsts. They also ushered us into two new conferences (Big South and CAA). That's a lot to handle. From here, we have to keep building. We can't be satisfied. Our best is yet to come."
