Box Score
ATLANTA, Ga., Dec. 6, 2019--North Carolina A&T State was eliminated from the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) tournament on Friday with a 3-0 loss (25-22, 25-20, 25-22) to Troy at O'Keefe Gymnasium.
Sophomore middle hitter Shaylynn Hall tied her career high with a match-high nine block assists and added four kills with a .429 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Addy Warfield led the team with 15 assists. Hall's nine blocks give her 86 block assists this season, which is seventh-most in a single season in school history.
Junior outside hitter Courteney Pitt and junior setter/right side hitter Edie Brewer recorded eight kills apiece. Pitt added two block assists and two digs with a .238 hitting percentage and Brewer added 11 assists, eight digs and three block assists. Pitt finished the season with 383 kills this season, which ranks seventh in school history for a single season.
Sophomore right side hitter Fatimah Shabazz added seven kills and five block assists with a .294 hitting percentage, while sophomore libero Andrea Laboy-Rivera led the team with 11 digs.
"What a fantastic match tonight," coach Hal Clifton said. "Although we did not come out on the winning side, we sure played one heck of a match. We gave Troy one heck of a battle. I'm so proud of the team and the way they competed tonight."
The Aggies struggled at the beginning of the first set but finished the set strong. They trailed 9-2 before N.C. A&T pulled off a 6-0 run that included a Hall kill, a Brewer service ace and a Christa Wilson kill to pull to within one at 9-8. The Aggies eventually tied the score at 10 before the Trojans pulled ahead as a Cheyenne Hayes kill gave Tory a 16-12 lead.
N.C. A&T came fighting back again. With the Trojans leading 20-17, they committed a service error, Shabazz and Hall teamed to get a block assist and Hall and Pitt combined for a block assist to tie the set at 20.
Troy reclaimed the momentum by scoring the next three points before a Trojans service error cut their lead to 23-21. Haynes scored on another kill before Pitt answered to make it 24-21. The set ended on another Hayes kill.
The second set was a competitive affair as a Pitt kill got the Aggies to within two at 15-13. A kill from Brewer kept the Aggies to within two at 16-14. Troy, however, would begin to pull away.
They went on a mini 4-1 spurt to take a 20-15 lead. After a Troy attack error, the Trojans went on a 3-0 run to take reach set point at 24-17.
Two straight Troy attack errors and a Pitt kill got the Aggies to within four at 24-20 before Hayes scored on a kill to give the Trojans a 2-0 match lead.
In the third set, Troy jumped out to a 12-7 lead before the Aggies got to within two at 14-12. The two teams battled back-and-forth with Troy maintaining their two-point consistently. A Troy attack error cut their lead to 22-20 before an Aggies attack error put Troy ahead by three.
The Aggies then moved to within one on a Pitt kill followed by a Brewer kill that made a 23-22 set. Those would be the final Aggie points of the 2019 season. Troy (23-9) won the match back-to-back kills to advance to play the Georgia Tech, who defeated Alabama A&M.
The Trojans were led by Hayes with 15 kills.
"I'm so proud of the team and the way they competed," Clifton said. "We won almost every category except the final score. Our only flaw was that we could not side out at a high enough efficiency. That was a difference-maker along with the eight reception errors. Despite that, we were fighting hard. Troy is a very good team out of the A-Sun and they are well-coached."
The Aggies finish the season with a winning record of 16-15 including a 13-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) mark. They won the conference's Southern Division title and return their two first-team All-MEAC selections for 2020 in Pitt and Brewer. The Aggies also return their top blocker in Hall and defensive standout and libero Laboy-Rivera.
"This entire group of young ladies has put our program on the map this year," Clifton said.