Thursday, September 5
Greenville, N.C.
7:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
4-0,0-0AAC
3
vs
0
North Carolina A&T
2-1,0-0CAA
1
2
3
F
N.C. A&T
14
21
14
0
East Carolina
25
25
25
3
East Carolina Sweeps N.C. A&T In Home Opener
September 05, 2024 | Volleyball
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina, playing inside the friendly confines of Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum for the first time this season, blanked North Carolina A&T 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-14) Thursday night in the initial match of the 2024 Pirate Invitational inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
ECU (4-0) was a well-oiled offensive machine in the sweep, hitting .289 with 39 kills on 97 attempts. The Pirates also dominated the proceedings in many other areas, including assists (37-26), service aces (7-0), digs (48-42) and total blocks (8.0-1.0). The Aggies (2-1), who tasted defeat for the first time in this young campaign, committed 24 attacking errors to fire at a paltry .052 clip.
Sophomore outside hitter Ellie Pate paced the Purple and Gold in the kills column with 10 while junior middle blocker, coming off an all-tournament effort last weekend in Wilmington, stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of eight kills, three service aces, six digs, three blocks and a .538 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Angeles Alderete also contributed nine kills and 11 digs. Hannah Howell topped all players in the contest with 12 kills but misfired eight times to end up with a .108 hitting mark.
Set One: The Pirates were a focused side in the opening stanza, putting down 12 kills with just one error to hit .393 – their best offensive clip in any of the three sets. A kill by Alderete afforded East Carolina an early 9-5 advantage before a North Carolina A&T attacking error pushed the Pirates into double digits and prompted the first Aggie timeout of the evening. The lead grew to 16-8 and 20-12 and it would be more than enough for ECU to see out the remainder of the frame as a North Carolina A&T service error closed out the Pirates' 11-point victory.
Set Two: East Carolina struggled with serve-receive as the second stanza commenced and the Aggies would capitalize with a set-opening 8-2 run. Unfazed, the Pirates started to chip away at the deficit and scored seven of the next 11 points to draw within three at 12-9. The surge continued following a North Carolina A&T timeout as three consecutive attacking errors put ECU in front 17-14 and forced another Aggie timeout. The Pirates did not relinquish the upper hand the rest of the way and a kill by Pate slammed the door shut for a 2-0 East Carolina match lead at the intermission.
Set Three: The Pirates left little room for interpretation in the final frame, jumping out to a 9-4 edge via another Pate kill. ECU kept the pedal down, ballooning its lead to 17-10 and sending North Carolina A&T to its bench and its final timeout of the match. A big kill by Northcross made it 20-13 and it was elementary at that point as the Aggies' fifth and final service error of the night capped the East Carolina sweep.
ECU (4-0) was a well-oiled offensive machine in the sweep, hitting .289 with 39 kills on 97 attempts. The Pirates also dominated the proceedings in many other areas, including assists (37-26), service aces (7-0), digs (48-42) and total blocks (8.0-1.0). The Aggies (2-1), who tasted defeat for the first time in this young campaign, committed 24 attacking errors to fire at a paltry .052 clip.
Sophomore outside hitter Ellie Pate paced the Purple and Gold in the kills column with 10 while junior middle blocker, coming off an all-tournament effort last weekend in Wilmington, stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of eight kills, three service aces, six digs, three blocks and a .538 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Angeles Alderete also contributed nine kills and 11 digs. Hannah Howell topped all players in the contest with 12 kills but misfired eight times to end up with a .108 hitting mark.
Feels great to be back home😎🏴☠️#PiratesWin pic.twitter.com/CZoYnWIP97
— East Carolina Volleyball (@ECUVB) September 6, 2024
Set One: The Pirates were a focused side in the opening stanza, putting down 12 kills with just one error to hit .393 – their best offensive clip in any of the three sets. A kill by Alderete afforded East Carolina an early 9-5 advantage before a North Carolina A&T attacking error pushed the Pirates into double digits and prompted the first Aggie timeout of the evening. The lead grew to 16-8 and 20-12 and it would be more than enough for ECU to see out the remainder of the frame as a North Carolina A&T service error closed out the Pirates' 11-point victory.
Set Two: East Carolina struggled with serve-receive as the second stanza commenced and the Aggies would capitalize with a set-opening 8-2 run. Unfazed, the Pirates started to chip away at the deficit and scored seven of the next 11 points to draw within three at 12-9. The surge continued following a North Carolina A&T timeout as three consecutive attacking errors put ECU in front 17-14 and forced another Aggie timeout. The Pirates did not relinquish the upper hand the rest of the way and a kill by Pate slammed the door shut for a 2-0 East Carolina match lead at the intermission.
Set Three: The Pirates left little room for interpretation in the final frame, jumping out to a 9-4 edge via another Pate kill. ECU kept the pedal down, ballooning its lead to 17-10 and sending North Carolina A&T to its bench and its final timeout of the match. A big kill by Northcross made it 20-13 and it was elementary at that point as the Aggies' fifth and final service error of the night capped the East Carolina sweep.
- ECU won its fourth-straight home opener and has registered sweeps in three-straight such contests.
- The Pirates improved to 18-5 versus North Carolina A&T in the all-time series between the programs.
- An East Carolina opponent did not tally a service ace for the first time since North Carolina failed to do so back on Sept. 4, 2021 – a 3-0 Pirate victory in Greenville.
- Alderete now requires just 85 kills and 267 digs to reach 1,000 in both categories. She would be the seventh player in program history to record the achievement.
- Ekwe Anwah played and started in her first collegiate match after redshirting the 2023 season. She acquitted herself nicely with three kills, two blocks and a .333 hitting percentage.
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Team Stats
NCA&T
ECU
Kills
30
39
Errors
24
11
Attempts
116
97
Hitting %
.052
.289
Points
31.0
54.0
Assists
26
37
Aces
0
7
Blocks
1
8
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
3
Blocks
3
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
Outside Hitter
/ Volleyball
Middle Blocker
/ VolleyballOutside Hitter
/ Volleyball
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