GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T's nearly perfect offensive execution over the first two sets of its Friday night Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) volleyball matchup against William & Mary at Moore Gymnasium catapulted the Aggies to a four-set win (25-18, 25-14, 24-26, 25-21) over the Tribe.

The Aggies improved to 8-8 overall, moving back to .500 for the first time in a month. A&T has also won four out of its last five matches to improve to 4-3 in the CAA, getting above .500 in league play for the first time this season. In addition, the Aggies are now 5-0 at home in 2025.

Sophomore Tyne Ross put together her second straight double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs. Junior Mikala Sampson and freshman Zariah Winton also reached double-figure kills, with Sampson recording 11 and Winton adding 10.

"I thought we put together a really solid match tonight," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "We started out with a lot of energy, and our offense was flowing nicely."

A&T's offense looked poetically marvelous over the first two sets on Friday. The Aggies combined to post a .408 hitting percentage in taking a 2-0 match lead over the Tribe. Defensively, the Aggies had a combined eight team blocks, strengthening them even further.

W&M appeared to find answers in the third set. After not having a block over the first two sets, the Tribe recorded three in the third. Despite the Trib's improved play, Winton gave the Aggies a 19-17 lead on a kill. However, the Tribe scored the next four points to take a 21-19 advantage.

A&T fought back to tie the set at 23-23 on another Winton kill. Audrey Brcka secured set point for the Tribe with a kill before her attack error tied the set. But a service error by A&T sophomore Luca Radnai and a Nicole Smith kill forced a fourth set.

W&M and A&T battled through nine ties in the fourth set before the Aggies took control. After Smith tied the match at 17-17 for the Tribe, a W&M service error was followed by a Ross kill and a service ace from junior Leonor Polezzi to give the Aggies a three-point lead, leading to a W&M timeout.

It didn't seem to help. A&T increased his scoring streak to six straight points after a kill apiece from Ross and Luca Radnai and an attack error from Smith put the Aggies in command with a 23-17 lead. A Beatriz Silva service error gave the Aggies set and match point at 24-20 before Luca Radnai put the Tribe away with a kill.

"Overall, our serving was very good," said Clifton. "That really helped us go on mini runs. We worked all week on our transition game, and it was good to see it pay off."

The Aggies finished the match with a .295 hitting percentage and nine team blocks. Freshman Nicole Ellis added seven kills and six total blocks. Polezzi had an excellent overall match with 41 assists, nine digs, four total blocks, four kills, and three aces. Sophomore Anahi Alvarado led the Aggies with 15 digs.

The same two teams play again on Saturday at Moore Gymnasium, with the first serve scheduled for 2 p.m.