Box Score | Championship Central
WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 22, 2019—Edie Brewer recorded her eighth triple-double of the season and three Aggies had double-digit kills as North Carolina A&T State defeated Maryland Eastern Shore 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 25-27, 25-19) in quarterfinal action of the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Volleyball Championship Thursday evening in Burr Gymnasium.
The Aggies (16-13) advance to Saturday’s semifinal against either Morgan State or Bethune-Cookman.
Brewer, the MEAC Co-Player of the Year and a First Team honoree, racked up 14 kills, a team-high 31 assists, and 11 digs – all while hitting .303 for the match. Courteney Pitt, who was also a First Team All-MEAC honoree, led North Carolina A&T State with 18 kills, while Fatimah Shabazz hit .395 and had 17 kills.
Addy Warfield added 21 assists, and Andrea Laboy-Rivera led the Aggies defensively with 20 digs.
“We knew it would be a battle tonight,” Aggies head coach Hal Clifton, the MEAC Coach of the Year, said. “[UMES] jumped out a little bit ahead of us, but I really love the way we held our composure, and we were able to pull ahead in the right moments in sets one and two.”
The Aggies hit .248 for the match, while holding Maryland Eastern Shore (12-19) to .183 hitting. Both teams had 10.0 blocks, and the Hawks held a 7-4 edge in service aces.
After the Aggies, the top seed out of the Southern Division, took the first set, Maryland Eastern Shore appeared poise to even things up in the second frame. The Hawks held a 17-13 lead late in the set, but North Carolina A&T State rallied back to tie the score on five separate occasions – the latest being at 23-23.
Shabazz then had a kill on the next point before a UMES attack error gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
The third set was much like the second, a tight, back-and-forth affair. A Pitt kill gave the Aggies a 17-15 lead, but the Hawks scored six of the next seven points to go up 21-18 on a Lidia Chery block. The latter stages of the set saw several more tie scores, including 25-25 after a Shabazz kill.
But Alexis Lee had a kill, followed by a block from Mauri Carver and Tatjana Trifkovic to give the Hawks the third set.
The Aggies jumped out to a 6-3 lead to open the fourth set, thanks to a kill from Pitt, before UMES stormed back to take a 13-12 lead on a Trifkovic and Carver block. But from that point, the Aggies outscored the Hawks 13-6 to take the fourth set and move on to the semifinals.
“We just have to not doubt ourselves and let ourselves enjoy and be in the moment,” Brewer said. “We’re not going to be college volleyball players forever, so just enjoy it and have some fun.”
Lee led UMES with 13 kills.