Women's Volleyball | 8/30/2024 10:06:00 AM

Date: Friday, August 30, 2024
North Carolina Central University (NCCU) (0-0) at North Carolina A&T (0-0)
Time: 6 p.m.
Venue: Corbett Sports Center

Date: Saturday, August 31, 2024
North Carolina A&T at NCCU
Time: 6 p.m.
Venue: McDougald-McLendon Arena

TV: FloVolleyball  
Play-by-Play: Joseph Level  

NORTH CAROLINA A&T AGGIES STORYLINES 

• The North Carolina A&T Aggies volleyball team will start the 2024 season against a familiar foe in traditional rival NCCU. The largest HBCUs in North Carolina will play back-to-back days, starting with Friday's match in Greensboro and ending with Saturday's contest in Durham.
• If you're a follower of North Carolina A&T volleyball, you will need to learn a lot of new names. There are seven new Aggies on the roster. Six of them are freshmen. It sounds like a scary thought heading into another difficult Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) season. But don't let the anxiety rise too high.
• Yes. The Aggies lost 47 percent of its offense when the program's second all-time leader in kills, Naiya Sawtelle, transferred to the University of South Florida after graduating from North Carolina A&T. Kaili Doctor took some offensive might with her when she transferred to Eastern Michigan after capturing CAA Rookie of the Year honors in 2023.
• In addition, Chiara Napoli, who compiled 1,251 assists and 421 digs in her two seasons in an Aggies uniform as the starting setter, transferred to Chattanooga leaving another void to fill. Morgan Allen, who exhausted her eligibility, will also be a significant loss from A&T's back-row defense.
• Therefore, the Aggies are picked to finish 11th in the 12-team CAA. 
• But head coach Hal Clifton and his staff did an excellent job of bringing reinforcements to the east side of Greensboro, including freshman outside hitter Tyne Ross. She brings a high level of athleticism to the gym and leaps off the floor in a hurry.
• Sophomore Leonor Polezzi will look to step in and take over the setter position after Napoli's departure. She has an excellent understanding of the game, and she covers a lot of court. Therefore, she will not miss many opportunities to put her hitters in an excellent position to score.
• But while all the new faces certainly deserve attention, the fascinating part about 2024 Aggies volleyball is that while they lost plenty of talent, they also return tons of it.
• In her first two years in Aggieland, senior Hannah Howell compiled 405 kills, averaging 1.5 per set. She also had 405 digs in her first two seasons before Doctor emerged.  She and Ross should produce enough offense to help the Aggies compete in a treacherous CAA.
• Madison Sanabria, the Aggies sparkplug on the court, also returns after averaging 0.86 blocks per set last season. Senior Maya Johnson is also a valuable returnee, causing problems for opponents offensively and defensively.
• Johnson averaged 1.10 kills and 0.95 blocks per set as a junior. She compiled 167.5 points last season, which was third-best on the team behind Sawtelle and Doctor. Johnson comes into the season with 207 career total blocks.
• Sophomore Mikala Simpson should provide the Aggies some extra punch at the net, along with freshman Lily Bannister. The back row returnees include sophomore Valeria Estrada and Laurel Rogers, even though freshman Anahi Alvarado will push for time on the court at libero.
• Clifton heads into his 14th season as the Aggies head coach. He is the longest-tenured coach in program history. He led A&T to its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) title in the spring of 2021 before the school left the conference for the Big South and then the CAA.

SCOUTING THE NCCU EAGLES  

• The NCCU Eagles are coming off a 6-18 season. They went 5-9 in the MEAC in 2023, finishing in sixth place.
• Through a vote of MEAC SIDs and head coaches, the two entities picked the Eagles to finish sixth again in the MEAC's 2024 preseason poll. The Eagles return second-team All-MEAC performer Emmie Modlin.
• Modlin averaged 3.05 kills and 1.81 digs in 174 sets played last season. She recorded five doubles-doubles last season, including a 22-kill, 12-dig performance against Delaware State, where she hit .327 in a five-set loss to the Hornets.
• The Eagles also return another second-team All-MEAC performer in libero Loren Johnson. Johnson is also on the MEAC's preseason All-MEAC team, following a season where she averaged 3.83 digs per set.
• Johnson recorded more than 20 digs five times last season, including in a five-set loss to Coppin State. She ranked third in the MEAC in digs per set last season and seventh in the conference in service aces per set (0.35).
• Junior Kamren Harper will also serve as an offensive threat after averaging 2.72 kills per set last season.
• Jody Brown enters his seventh season as the Eagles head coach. He spent 17 seasons at Florida Atlantic before becoming NCCU's head coach. He compiled a 227-257 record at Florida Atlantic, taking the Owls to three NCAA tournaments. In seven seasons at NCCU, he has a 52-134. His career record is 279-391.

THE SERIES           

• A&T leads the all-time series, 17-16.
• The Aggies have won 11 straight in the series. The last time the Eagles defeated the Aggies was a five-set loss on Nov. 11, 2016, in Moore Gymnasium.
• Clifton is 15-7 all-time against NCCU.