East Carolina Falls To Wichita State In AAC Opener

Wednesday, September 20

Greenville, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

9-3,0-1AAC

Wichita State

7-4,1-0AAC

Wichita St.

East Carolina

September 20, 2023 | Volleyball

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GREENVILLE, N.C. – Despite holding leads late in sets one and three Wednesday evening, East Carolina could not hold on as Wichita State recorded a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-23) victory in both teams' American Athletic Conference opener inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

The Pirates (9-3, 0-1 AAC) held the Shockers (7-4, 1-0 AAC) well under their season average in hitting percentage, limiting the visitors to .119 efficiency and forcing 23 attacking errors, but ECU faltered itself – hitting just .113 on 34 kills and 22 errors in 106 attempts. Wichita State finished with the upper hand in total kills (36-34), service aces (6-1) and digs (48-44) while the Pirates doubled up the Shockers in the total blocks column by a 12.0-6.0 margin.

Sophomore outside hitter Angeles Alderete paced the squad and tied for match-high honors with 12 kills. Playing against her former team, junior libero Lara Uyar led all players with 20 digs while sophomore middle blocker Carlia Northcross collected a game-best nine blocks. Natalie Foster and Morgan Stout willed Wichita State to victory on the offensive end with 12 and 11 kills respectively.

Set One: A faulty set by Payton Evenstad allowed the Shockers to pull in front 10-5 to start things off, forcing East Carolina to utilize its first timeout. The Pirates rallied all the way back to knot the score at 19 on a Sophia Rohling attacking error before a pair of blocks by senior right side Fran McBride put the Purple and Gold ahead 23-21. Miscues would doom the home side down the stretch as Wichita State scored the final four points of the stanza to grab an early match lead.

Set Two: ECU got off to another slow start in the second, falling behind 10-5 following an attacking error by Izzy Marinelli. The Pirates cut the deficit to 11-10 on a Shocker ball-handling error, but Wichita State scored four straight from there to re-establish a five-point edge. East Carolina could not quite catch up the rest of the way as the Shockers won the frame by six to take a 2-0 advantage into the intermission.

Set Three: Looking to extend the match, the Pirates built an 11-9 cushion on a kill by Alderete before a kill by Ellie Pate made it 15-12 in favor of ECU at the media timeout. The Pirates once again held a late lead, pulling ahead 22-20 on a Foster attacking error, but Wichita State mustered up a 5-1 match-ending run on the strength of Foster's serve to seal the road win.

Up Next: East Carolina will attempt to record its first league victory of the season this weekend when it travels to Birmingham, Ala., for a two-match set against AAC newcomer UAB. The teams collide Saturday (Sept. 23/3 p.m.) and Sunday (Sept. 24/1 p.m.) inside Bartow Arena.