North Carolina A&T Aggies Face Challenging MEAC Florida Schools

Bethune-Cookman (11-15, 8-0 MEAC)/Florida A&M at North Carolina A&T (7-11, 5-3 MEAC)

Date: Nov. 6/8, 2015
Time: 7 p.m./3 p.m.
Facility: Moore Gymnasium

The Story: It is another big weekend at Moore Gymnasium for North Carolina A&T volleyball, winners of four straight at home. The Aggies will celebrate Senior Day prior to the match against Bethune-Cookman as seniors Ashley Johnson, Aleena McDaniel and Brooke Stamnes will be honored. In addition, the Aggies invite the top two teams in the MEAC southern division into Moore. The Aggies currently stand as the No. 3 seed coming out of the south, but if all goes N.C. A&T’s way, the second seed in the Nov. 20-22 MEAC tournament could be a possibility. If the Aggies win against Bethune-Cookman it will exceed their longest winning streak since making Moore Gymnasium their permanent home in 2012. The Aggies have not won five in a row at home since 2003.

About Bethune-Cookman: The Wildcats are good. They have defeated Florida A&M in three sets twice and only two southern division teams have taken a set off of the Cats. But B-CU did lose to Howard in five and N.C. A&T is one of the two teams to take a set off of the Wildcats in Daytona Beach. Delicia Pierre leads all southern division hitters in kills and kills per game (3.39). Pierre is coming off a 12-kill performance in which she made only two attack errors and had a .500 hitting percentage. The Wildcats are one of the most accurate hitting teams in the conference, ranking second behind Maryland Eastern Shore with a .198 percentage. Rakaya Neely leads the conference with a .323 hitting percentage.

About Florida A&M: The Rattlers face N.C. Central before traveling down to Greensboro for the Aggies home finale on Sunday. The Rattlers enter the weekend 6-19 overall and 6-2 in the southern division. The Rattlers have lost their last two matches, but they beat N.C. Central in three sets in Tallahassee. The Rattlers eased to a three-set win over the Aggies in Tallahassee, but the Aggies have been much tougher on the Rattlers at Moore Gymnasium, taking a set off the Rattlers in Moore last season. The Rattlers posted a .378 hitting percentage. Deija Martin was superb in the match, making only one attack error on 14 attempts as she tallied 11 kills. Pamela Soriano had a double-double with 11 kills and 17 digs.

News & Notes

A Long Time: The Aggies have not defeated Florida A&M since 1998, a 3-0 win at home. It is a losing streak of 32 straight matches. In those 31 matches, the Aggies have been swept 27 times. The last time they took the Ratters to five sets was in 1999.

Special Senior Class: The class of Ashley Johnson, Brooke Stamnes and Aleena McDaniel were the first class for head coach Hal Clifton, which originally started with seven. Over four years a lot can happen because of decision making, but three who will be honored on Friday have a lot to be proud of. For a third straight year they will be in the MEAC tournament, Johnson will leave as the school’s all-time leader in digs, Stamnes will likely go out with 1,000 kills and McDaniel will finish among the top-10 in kills in school history.

Super Sophs: The Aggies appear to have a strong foundation even after they lose their senior class. Sophomores Alyssa Pitt, Marteen Hill, Jasmine Lindor and Marteen Hill have the top four hitting percentages on the team led by Pitt’s .196. Pitt also leads the team in blocks (0.91) followed by Lindor, Hill and Brown.

Stamnes’ 1000: She goes into the Bethune-Cookman match needing 16 kills to reach 1,000 for her career. She will end her career second all-time in kills behind her assistant coach Arlene Mitchell.

COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION