GREENSBORO – Set aside the second set and slow starts at the beginning of the first two sets, the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University volleyball team had a decent showing against ACC and Power Four opponent Wake Forest University on Thursday night at Moore Gymnasium.
The Demon Deacons defeated the Aggies in three sets (25-20, 10, 23) to improve to 5-5 on the season. A&T dropped to 5-5 despite getting 12 kills from junior
Tyne Ross. Senior
Mikala Sampson added seven kills, finishing with one attack error on 17 attempts for a .353 hitting percentage. Sophomore
Daja Warren also had seven kills.
In each of the first two sets, the Demon Deacons got off to tremendous starts. They led 5-0 in the first set and 21-10 later before the Aggies halted play with a timeout. Behind two kills from sophomore
Zariah Winton, the Aggies put together a 6-2 spurt, cutting the deficit to seven at 23-16. A&T got to within four, 23-19, on an attack error from Kelis Hawkins. After another Wake timeout, Laiya Ebo gave the Demon Deacons set point with a kill before an Aggies attack error ended the set. In the second set, the Demon Deacons jumped out to an 11-0 lead and coasted to a 2-0 match lead.
"We played a good set and a half tonight," said A&T head volleyball coach
Hal Clifton. "The first set we had to play catch-up, and after spotting them five points, we were able to get close. We just made too many unforced errors at the end of the set. But we competed."
The Demon Deacons didn't get off to a fast start in the third set. The Aggies pieced together an 8-1 run led by junior
Luca Radnai, who had three kills and a service ace, to take a 13-9 lead. Wake Forest rallied to tie the set 20-20 on a Lyla Stewart kill. A 4-1 spurt from there gave Wake Forest set and match point as Ryleigh Whitekettle's kill put Wake up 24-21. A
Tyne Ross kill and an attack error from Wake closed the Aggies to within one at 24-23 before Whitekettle delivered another kill to end the match. Stewart led the Demon Deacons with 11 kills, and four others had at least five.
"The third set was solid," said Clifton. "We had the advantage at 20-18 and then let it slip away again. We were right in that set and played so well; we just didn't finish. We have to figure out how to close out sets."
The Aggies return to action quickly as they travel to High Point University to face the Panthers at the Millis Center on Friday at 7 p.m.
