East Carolina Opens AAC Play With 3-1 Victory At Florida Atlantic

Friday, September 27

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

8-3,1-0AAC

Florida Atlantic

8-5,0-1AAC

East Carolina

Fla. Atlantic

East Carolina Opens AAC Play With 3-1 Victory At Florida Atlantic

September 27, 2024 | Volleyball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)

BOCA RATON, Fla. – After a rough start in the first set Friday night, East Carolina responded with authority on the way to a 3-1 (15-25, 25-23, 25-11, 25-19) victory over host Florida Atlantic in both teams' American Athletic Conference opener at Baldwin Arena.

In a match between the fourth (ECU) and fifth (FAU) place teams in the league's preseason coaches' poll, the Owls (8-5, 0-1 AAC) cooled off considerably after firing at .242 and .263 efficiency in the first two frames. The Pirates (8-3, 1-0 AAC) hit .414 and .333 in the final two frames to hand Florida Atlantic just its second home loss of the campaign (6-2).

East Carolina ended the night with a .237 hitting percentage while limiting the home side to a .162 mark. The Pirates also held the upper hand in kills (49-46), service aces (5-4), digs (61-56) and total blocks (10.0-4.0).

The Purple and Gold right sides were unstoppable as Fran McBride and Aulie Huff combined for 23 kills and eight blocks. McBride paced all players in the match with 13 kills and a .417 hitting percentage while Huff fell one short of her career high with 10. AAC Preseason Player of the Year Angeles Alderete got her conference season off to a great start with a double-double of 12 kills and 18 digs and freshman setter Taryn Gilreath certainly looked the part with a stat line of 28 assists, three digs, two aces and a kill.

Madison Dyer led the homestanding Owls with 11 kills and a .333 offensive mark, but ECU did a solid job limiting preseason all-conference selection Valeria Rosado to five kills and a negative hitting percentage (-.107).

Set One: East Carolina never found its footing in the opener, hitting for a negative percentage as the home side built leads of 12-3 and 21-10 on the way to a double-digit victory.

Set Two: The Pirates responded in the second frame as a kill by McBride put the ECU ahead 10-8 early on. With the score later tied at 16, East Carolina began to pull away and built a 22-19 edge off a Florida Atlantic service error. A Huff kill afforded the Pirates set point at 24-20, but the Owls mustered up a 3-0 run to draw within one. Huff slammed the door shut, however, tooling the FAU block on the final rally of the frame to tie the match at the intermission.

Set Three: It was an all-out blitz for ECU in the third stanza as the Pirates hit a sizzling .414 and held the Owls to a negative percentage (-.036). A McBride kill made the score 8-5, prompting a Florida Atlantic timeout, but the Pirates began to put the pedal down. A second-ball score by Payton Evenstad pushed the lead to 12-6 and East Carolina netted 13 of the final 18 points to seize control.

Set Four: Desperate to force a deciding frame, the Owls rallied from an early 8-4 deficit with a 6-2 run that sliced the Pirate advantage to 11-10. The teams traded points for a while before ECU turned a 14-13 lead into a 19-14 edge via a strong service run by Aleicea Watson. Florida Atlantic never threatened again as Watson and Huff rejected Rosado's final swing of the night to seal the win.

East Carolina improved to 2-2 in the all-time series with Florida Atlantic and 1-0 in Boca Raton.
The Pirates notched a win in their AAC opener for the first time since joining the league prior to the 2014 season.
ECU improved to 3-2 in true road matches and 3-0 in four-set contests.
Three Pirate hitters finished with double-digit kills, marking the second time that has occurred this season (vs. Loyola Maryland/Aug. 31).
Alderete moved within 31 kills of reaching 1,000 for her career.

Up Next: Another tough task awaits East Carolina Sunday in the form of host South Florida. The Pirates and Bulls are scheduled for a 2 p.m. first serve Sunday at The Corral in Tampa.