GREENVILLE, NC – North Carolina A&T volleyball had a tremendous weekend on the eastern side of North Carolina. A&T went 2-1 at the East Carolina Invitational over the weekend after a 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-23) win on the final day of the invite over Texas A&M University – Commerce (TAMUC) at East Carolina's Minges Coliseum on Saturday.
A&T lost its opening match to host East Carolina on Thursday before defeating Western Carolina in four on Friday and winning over the Lions on Saturday. The Aggies improved to 3-1 overall on Saturday behind 20 kills from freshman Tyne Ross. Ross made only four attack errors in 46 attempts to post an impressive .348 hitting percentage.
Ross also continued the torrid start to her collegiate career, posting back-to-back 20-kill performances at invitational to earn all-tournament honors. In addition, senior teammate Hannah Howell put together back-to-back double-doubles as she finished with 14 kills and 15 digs against the Lions on Saturday. Howell also had three service aces as she earned all-tournament honors.
The Lions dropped to 2-4 despite capturing the first-set win. A&T led 21-19 in the first but a 3-0 TAMUC run gave the Lions the lead, leading to the Aggies calling timeout. The Aggies came out of the timeout and got a kill from Ross to tie the set at 22, but the Lions ended the set with three straight points, culminating in a kill from Reese Fetty to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.
But the Aggies had an emphatic response in the second set. After a service error by A&T sophomore Leonor Polezzi gave the Lions a 13-11, the Aggies caught fire. They outscored TAMUC 10-2 after Polezzi's error to take a commanding 21-15 lead. Howell gave the Aggies set point with a kill before a Savannah Jennings ball handling error helped the Aggies tie the set at 1-1.
The last two sets of the match came down to the wire, with the Aggies showing the character and grit to win both, even after giving up solid leads in the third and fourth sets. A&T led 18-12 before the Lions outscored the Aggies 9-5 to cut A&T's lead to 23-21 on a Ross attack error.
After an Aggies timeout, Ross made up for her error with a kill to give the Aggies set point. However, the Lions scored the next two points to pull to within one. But Howell came to the rescue again, giving the Aggies a 2-1 lead in the match with a kill.
A&T led 23-17 in the fourth and even had set point at 24-19 before a 4-0 TAMUC run led by two kills from MJ Klaumann brought the Lions to within one. Defense would hold off the Lions in the fourth, however. A block assist from Maya Johnson and Mikala Sampson gave the Aggies the set and the match.
"I'm really proud of how the team responded after dropping the first set, especially when we led most of it," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "Sometimes it's hard to rebound from that, but the team steadied the course, and we were able to shake it off."
Like Howell, Polezzi put together back-to-back double-doubles as she finished with 42 assists and 14 digs. Sampson finished with eight kills and three total blocks, and Johnson had six kills and three total blocks. Kitana Tuufuli led the Lions with 14 kills.
A&T returns to action on Thursday when it starts play in the Georgia Southern Invitational against host Georgia Southern at 6 p.m. from Hanner Fieldhouse.
