GREENSBORO – Throughout the weekend, the North Carolina A&T volleyball team looked like a team ready to compete for a conference championship.
On Saturday, they got a win out of it. The Aggies took down the Coastal Athletic Association's (CAA) top team, the Campbell Fighting Camels, in four sets (25-20, 17-25, 25-23, 25-19) at Moore Gymnasium. The win ends the Aggies' regular season at 14-11 overall and 10-6 in the CAA. The Aggies also snapped Campbell's 11-match winning streak.
A&T will head into the 2025 CAA Volleyball Championship Tournament at Towson University's SECU Arena, November 20-22, as the No. 5 seed. Even though the College of Charleston has one match remaining on Sunday, the Cougars are locked in the No. 4 seed because if Towson and Charleston finish in a tie for third, Towson owns the tiebreaker over Charleston. The Aggies and the Cougars split their two contests this season.
Despite the loss, Campbell (21-6, 13-3 CAA) will share the CAA regular-season title with Hofstra (21-3, 13-3). Hofstra enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed by virtue of winning the tiebreaker over the Camels, making Hofstra A&T's next opponent if the Aggies were able to defeat Charleston.
A&T heads to the tournament off a remarkable performance, and the Aggies' showing on Friday wasn't bad either. Throughout the weekend, the Aggies demonstrated that they could win close sets, be dominant at times, and showed they had other offensive weapons to complement CAA Preseason Player of the Year Tyne Ross. They also showed resilience.
After losing a tough five-setter to the Camels on Friday, the Aggies came out swinging on Saturday. A 7-1 run in the first set gave the Aggies a 20-13 lead before a Campbell service error gave the Aggies set point at 24-19. Freshman Zariah Winton gave the Aggie a 1-0 match lead with a kill. Campbell won big in the second set, making only two attack errors and posting a .400 hitting percentage.
A&T returned to form in the third set, taking an 18-14 lead. Campbell scored the next three points, leading to an A&T timeout. The pause in action seemed to work for A&T. The Aggies outscored the Camels 5-2 after the timeout, capped off by a Mikala Sampson kill to give the Aggies a 23-19 advantage. A Nicole Ellis kill gave the Aggies set point at 24-20 before the Camels scored the next three points to get to within one. Once again, the Aggies showed they can overcome adversity, ending the set with an Ellis kill.
Then came the fourth set, where the Aggies started fast and never relented. Ellis's kill gave the Aggies a 10-4 lead before a powerful kill from Winton off an assist from Ross gave the Aggies a 20-13 lead. Campbell did put together a 3-0 run, but a Ross kill followed by a Leonor Polezzi kill put the Aggies back in control. A&T grabbed match point on back-to-back attack errors by the Camels to take a 24-18 lead.
Luca Radnai finished off the Aggies' Senior Night with a kill off an assist from one of the players the Aggies celebrated before the match, Polezzi.
"Tonight was a good night all the way around," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "I thought we put together a solid effort and were way more aggressive than yesterday. Leo told me Thursday that no way we are losing on Senior Night. I guess she is an excellent prognosticator."
In addition to Polezzi, the Aggies also honored senior middle blocker Jada Hampton. Hampton contributed three kills and one total block with a .750 hitting percentage. Polezzi, the CAA leader in assists, finished with 43 assists, 14 digs, and two total blocks for her 26th career double-double.
Ross and Sampson led the Aggies in kills with 15 apiece, and Ellis had a big night with 10 kills, four digs, three total blocks, and a .400 hitting percentage. Sophomore Lili Radnai finished with a career-high 20 digs.
