East Carolina Sweeps The Citadel In NIVC First Round

Friday, December 1

Greenville, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

21-10,11-8AAC

The Citadel

27-4,14-2SoCon

The Citadel

East Carolina

December 01, 2023 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina kicked off its National Invitational Volleyball Championship run in style Friday night, rolling over Southern Conference regular season champion The Citadel 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-17) before a boisterous crowd of 965 inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The victory marked the first-ever postseason triumph for the Pirates in their first-ever postseason appearance.

ECU advances to the second round of the NIVC and will host Georgia Southern Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The Eagles took down Winthrop in five sets earlier in the day.

The Pirates (21-10) relied on the same formula they have utilized all season long as they out-hit the Bulldogs (27-4) .265 to .122 and collected 9.0 total blocks to The Citadel's one. The Bulldogs entered the contest with the most wins of any team in the tournament field but committed 20 attacking errors and mustered just 36 kills to East Carolina's 46. The sides finished even in dig column with 66 apiece.

Sophomore outside hitter Angeles Alderete, who was named to the All-American Athletic Conference First Team earlier in the week, produced a vintage performance as she racked up a match-high 18 kills and added 11 digs to complete her 14th double-double of the season. Senior setter Julianna Askew also enjoyed a solid performance, collecting a double-double of 27 assists and a career high-tying 15 digs while junior counterpart Payton Evenstad registered a double-double of 11 assists and 10 digs. Greenville native Ali Ruffin paced the Bulldogs with 10 kills and 18 digs.

ECU seized control at the outset, ringing up a 10-4 advantage following an attacking error by Kathleen Bula. Another offensive miscue by Bula stretched the Pirate lead all the way to 18-10 but a 9-4 Citadel run sliced the East Carolina upper hand to 22-19. Freshman outside hitter Ellie Pate restored order with a kill to make it a four-point Pirate cushion and the Bulldogs would come no closer than two the rest of the way.

In the second frame, East Carolina kept the visitors at an arm's length early and settled for a 15-12 edge at the media timeout after an Alderete kill. The Pirates slowly began to pull away as a kill by Askew sparked a 5-0 ECU run with the Pirates leading 18-16. Despite The Citadel using a couple of late timeouts, East Carolina rolled to the eight-point victory and a two-set advantage at the intermission.

The Pirates played their cleanest and most disciplined volleyball in the third stanza, hitting a stout .382 with 14 kills and just one error. Though the Bulldogs kept it close early, ECU broke open a 10-10 deadlock by scoring eight of the next nine points to build an insurmountable lead. With East Carolina at set point holding a 24-17 upper hand, Pate tooled the Citadel block at the left pin to terminate the contest.