GREENSBORO – The unfortunate part about what happened Friday night at Moore Gymnasium was North Carolina A&T's loss to the Campbell Fighting Camels 3-2 (20-25, 26-24, 25-16, 14-25, 15-12) in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) volleyball action.
The upside of Friday night, as the Aggies head to Towson, Md., for the 2025 CAA Volleyball Championship Tournament next week, is that it is apparent the Aggies can compete well against any of the other top five teams heading to the tournament.
A&T's loss locks them into the fifth seed when they head to Towson University's SECU Arena for the tournament scheduled for November 20-22, as the Aggies dropped to 13-11 overall and 9-6 in league play. Meanwhile, the Campbell Fighting Camels came to Moore as the No. 1 team in the CAA, winners of 10 straight matches.
Gwen Wolkow secured 15 kills and 12 digs to lead the Camels to their 11th straight win as they improved to 21-5 overall and 13-2 in league play. But it wasn't without a fight. The Aggies trailed 2-1 in the match heading into the fourth set. However, the Aggies looked mighty impressive in forcing a fifth and deciding set.
The Aggies dominated the Camels in the fourth set, posting a .310 hitting percentage as freshman Zariah Winton, freshman Nicole Ellis and junior Mikala Sampson had three kills apiece. Six Campbell service errors also aided the Aggies in the set. Campbell and A&T combined to record an unbelievable 30 service errors, with A&T making 16 of them. Another Campbell service error in the fifth set helped the Aggies pull to within one of the Camels at 5-4. The Camels outscored the Aggies 5-2 from there to take a 10-6 advantage in the set. A&T continued to prove it can hang with the CAA's best as a Tyne Ross kill got the Aggies to within three at 12-9.
A Valeria Estrada service ace cut the Camels' lead to two before another Ross kill got the Aggies to within one. Campbell recovered. Abbie Tuyo scored on back-to-back kills to give the Cames match point. A&T benefited from another Campbell service error as Tuyo's serve sailed out of bounds. But Wolkow found an opening in the Aggies defense to land an attack for a kill to end the match.
"Tonight was a match where we were just too high error in parts of the game," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "As you can see, both teams went at it from the end line with 14 and 16 errors. I have to figure out how we can serve tough but not out. This is one of the matches where the numbers just don't add up, but give credit to Campbell, they made the plays when they had to, and we didn't."
Ross led the Aggies with her seventh career double-double, finishing with 22 kills and 11 digs to go along with two total blocks. Sampson tied a career-high with a season-high 16 kills. She got those 16 kills on a .500 hitting percentage and added two total blocks. Winton also had double-figure kills with 12, and fellow freshman Nicole Ellis finished with seven kills and three total blocks.
Leonor Polezzi added her 25th career double-double with 46 assists and 17 digs to go along with four aces and two total blocks. Before the match, Polezzi was honored for reaching her 1,000th career assist. Before Saturday's match at Moore, Polezzi and Jada Hampton will be honored on Senior Day for the volleyball program. The first serve is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
