Women's Volleyball | 10/24/2025 10:17:00 AM

NORTH CAROLINA A&T AGGIES STORYLINES 

• A&T will head down the street to face Piedmont Triad and Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) rival Elon in a two-match weekend series.
• The Aggies come into the weekend playing well, having won five of their last six, including three straight to move into the thick of the race for a berth to the CAA tournament. The Aggies head into the weekend in fifth place. The top six teams in the CAA qualify for the tournament scheduled for November 20-22 in Towson, Md.
• Towson leads the conference race for the regular-season title at 10-1, but at 5-3 in the CAA, the Aggies trail Hofstra and Campbell by one game in the loss column, while Charleston and A&T are tied in the loss column as the Cougars come into the weekend with a 7-3 record.
• A&T improved to 6-0 at home in 2025 after completing a weekend sweep of William & Mary last weekend. But now the Aggies must go on the road to face an Elon team they swept in two matches at the Schar Center in 2023.
• The Aggies are 2-8 on the road, but one of those wins came against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) favorite Howard and one of the top teams in the CAA in Charleston. The Aggies also have a neutral-site win over UNC Asheville.
• CAA Preseason Player of the Year Tyne Ross continues to prove she is the most effective offensive weapon in the league. Ross leads the total kills (293), kills per set (4.51), total attacks (751), attacks per set (11.55), total points (318.5), and points per set (4.90).
• Nationally, she ranks among the top 30 players in kills per set (19th), points per set (25th), and attacks per set (27th).  
• Ross recently tied her career high with 27 kills in a five-set win at Charleston. In the same match, she recorded 66 total attacks, the fifth-most in program history. Ross averages 4.45 kills and has a .242 hitting percentage in 38 sets played on the road.
• Junior Leonor Polezzi is the reigning CAA co-Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 3.50 digs and 0.75 blocks per set. In A&T's two wins over W&M, she also averaged 11.13 assists per set. Polezzi leads the conference and ranks 32nd nationally in assists per set at 11.55. She is second in total assists in the league with 651.
• Junior Mikala Sampson missed six matches earlier this season. She returned on September 27 at UNC Wilmington. In the seven matches since her return, Sampson is averaging 2.81 kills and 0.46 blocks in 26 sets played. She has also posted a .243 hitting percentage over the same span.
• Hal Clifton, the longest tenured coach in A&T volleyball history, is in his 15th season. Clifton has two conference coach of the year awards and enters the weekend with 152 career wins. He is 11 wins shy of passing Kathy Bullock as the Aggies' all-time winningest coach.
• Clifton led the Aggies to the 2020 MEAC title (won in the spring of 2021 because of COVID). He has led the Aggies to the postseason four out of the last six seasons, including in 2024 when the Aggies earned an invite to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) tournament.

SCOUTING ELON

• Elon is coming off its biggest win of the season, defeating the No. 1 team in the conference, the Towson Tigers, in five sets on the road. It marked the Tigers' first conference loss of the season.
• Clara Simmons led the Phoenix with 18 kills on 60 total attack attempts. Simirin Carlsen contributed with an 11-kill, 19-dig double-double, and Kyla Johnson had six block assists, leading an Elon team that had nine team blocks.
• The win over Towson ended a six-match losing streak for the Phoenix. The last time the Phoenix won at home came on September 24 when they beat North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in three sets.
• Simmons leads the Phoenix in points (2.93) and kills per set (2.65). Carlsen averages 2.23 kills and leads the team at 3.23 digs per set. She only played two sets in the Phoenix's win over Towson.
• Catherine Rucker is also a scorer for Elon. She averages 1.47 kills, 2.23 points, 0.69 blocks, and she leads the team with 0.34 service aces per set. She only played two sets in the five-set win over Towson, but Cameron Lanier averages 2.66 kills and 0.49 blocks per set.
• Meanwhile, Kyla Johnson leads the team in blocks (0.87) and April Rice leads the team in assists (5.38), followed closely by Kyla Palmer (4.62).
• Matt Troy is in his first season as head of the Phoenix. Over the previous six seasons, Troy compiled a 151-17 record as the head coach at Johns Hopkins.
• Troy led Johns Hopkins to the NCAA Division III national championship in 2019, and Johns Hopkins made a Final Four appearance under Troy in 2024. In his 14 seasons at Johns Hopkins, his teams made the tournament 10 times.       

THE SERIES                 

• Elon leads the all-time series 33-13, but the Aggies have won the last four matchups against the Phoenix. Prior to A&T's current streak, the Phoenix had won 14 straight over the Aggies.
• Clifton, who once was an assistant coach at Elon, is 4-10 against the Phoenix as A&T's head coach.
• A&T became a member of the CAA in 2022. The Aggies are 4-2 against Elon since the two Piedmont Triad schools became conference mates.