TOWSON, Md. – When North Carolina A&T head coach Hal Clifton took over the volleyball program, the Aggies were one of the worst teams in Division I. On Thursday, he led the same Aggies program to the semifinals of one of the best mid-major conferences in the country and made history in the process.
The Aggies, the No. 5 seed at the 2025 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Volleyball Championship Tournament, defeated the College of Charleston in three sets (25-22, 25-17, 27-25) in a quarterfinal matchup at Towson University's SECU Arena. The Aggies will advance to face the top seed in the tournament, the Hofstra Pride, at 3 p.m. from SECU Arena. The Pride have had success against the Aggies since A&T joined the conference in 2022, winning eight of the nine meetings, including eliminating the Aggies from the CAA tournament last season in the quarterfinals.
But the Aggies will get a chance to settle that score on Friday.
As for Thursday, there is plenty to celebrate. The Aggies came away with their first-ever CAA tournament win, led by first-team All-CAA performer Tyne Ross, who finished with 15 kills while posting a .286 hitting percentage. The Aggies came away with a 9-0 advantage in service aces against the Cougars.
Meanwhile, Clifton inched a little closer to making A&T history. He is now five wins shy of becoming the all-time winningest coach in program history. A&T earned its first conference tournament win since beating USC Upstate in the Big South Conference tournament in 2021.
"Today was certainly a win to be excited about," said Clifton. "Every time we play, it has been a battle. They are a very good team and well-coached. I'm really excited about how we responded after the first set. We kept our composure and steadied out. We did a good job late in the match with our serving, and it paid off."
A&T won the first set despite producing only nine kills and eight attack errors. The Aggies used five aces and benefited from three Cougar service errors to stay competitive. After 13 ties and three lead changes in the first set, junior Mikala Sampson gave the Aggies the lead for good with a kill to give the Aggies a 22-21 advantage.
A Cougars attack error extended A&T's lead to two before a Ross kill gave the Aggies set point at 24-22. Another Cougars attack error gave the Aggies a 1-0 match lead. A&T's offense looked sharper in the second set. The Aggies hit .444 in the second. Charleston did not look bad with a .310 hitting percentage, but A&T's hitters were relentless.
A kill by Charleston's Julia Gnida got the Cougars to within three at 20-17 before the Aggies started pounding the volleyball. Ross started the party with a kill and had her score followed by two kills from Sampson and one from CAA All-Rookie team performer Zariah Winton. A block assist by Winton and Luca Radnai occurred in between all those kills during the 5-0 run to give the Aggies the eight-point win in the second set.
Charleston tried to keep its conference tournament championship hopes alive by taking a 9-5 lead in the third set. That lead did not last long as the Aggies outscored the Cougars 15-8 to take a 20-17 lead. A&T took one step closer to eliminating the Cougars by capturing match point at 24-22 on a Winton kill.
However, Charleston extended the match with a kill from Caroline Noonan and another from Lauren Dow. A service error gave the Aggies the advantage again before Izzy Marinelli tied the set with a kill. The Aggies finally advanced to the semifinals after a Marinelli attack error and a Ross kill.
Winton added 12 kills for the Aggies, and Sampson had eight kills with a .333 hitting percentage. Sophomore Charlie Meadoweal led the Aggies with a career-high 14 kills. Marinelli led the Cougars with 11 kills.
