EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T honored its four volleyball seniors in style on Saturday as the Aggies defeated the UNC Asheville Bulldogs 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 22-25, 25-13) in their regular-season finale at Moore Gymnasium.
Seniors Shaylynn Hall (6-foot-1, middle blocker, Raleigh, N.C.), Nadia Montalban-El Hirichie (5-6, libero, Granada, Spain), Macenzie Richards (6-0, right side, Pickerington, Ohio) and Andrea Laboy-Rivera (5-5, libero, Coamo, Puerto Rico) were all honored before Saturday's contest.
"You always to send your seniors out on a high note," head coach Hal Clifton said. "We knew Asheville was going to be gunning for us. They are a good team and knew we needed to be prepared. But our seniors have done a lot for us over the last four years. They have been a big, huge part of our success recently. We wanted to give them the opportunity to win in front of the home crowd one last time."
The Aggies (19-9, 11-5 Big South) will head into next week's (Nov. 19-21) Big South Conference tournament as the No. 4 seed and will face fifth-seeded USC Upstate for the third time this season. The two teams split the regular-season matchups, with each team winning on its home floor. A&T goes into the tournament, having won four out of their last five.
Edie Brewer (6-0, GR, setter, West Chester, Ohio) and Fatimah Shabazz (6-0, SR, RS, Cincinnati, Ohio) were also playing their respective final matches in Moore Gymnasium after returning for the NCAA-granted additional year because of the COVID pandemic. Brewer recorded her 13th career triple-double as she finished with 12 kills, 24 assists and 14 digs. She added two blocks and a .407 hitting percentage.
Shabazz added nine kills, two blocks and a .348 hitting percentage. Brewer's 12 kills give her 915 for her career, moving her into fifth place all-time in program history.
Richards Senior Day included eight kills, 14 digs, four blocks and a career-high four service aces. Hall closed out her stay in Moore Gym with seven kills and five blocks, including two solo blocks.
Laboy-Rivera recorded a match-high 17 digs. The 17 digs give the outstanding senior 1,470 for her career to move her into second place all-time in A&T history.
Addy Warfield (5-9, JR, setter, Winter Springs, Fla.) recorded her fifth double-double this season with 16 assists and 13 digs.
"It's always great, and that's the goal," Richards said on getting the Senior Day win. "It's always a good thing to have a winning streak, especially since we are new in the conference. We are trying to prove ourselves, and winning back-to-back like this, gives us confidence for next week."
A&T took control of the first set with a late 5-0 run capped off by two Nayia Sawtelle (6-0, FR, outside hitter, Stuart, Fla.) kills to give A&T a 23-17 lead. Mallory Porcher (6-0, JR, MB, Orlando, Fla.) closed the set with a kill.
The Aggies claimed a 20-12 lead in the second set. The Bulldogs (6-19, 4-12 Big South) did score four straight points to cut A&T's lead to 23-19. But a Sawtelle kill and an UNCA attack error gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead in the match.
A&T started the third set with a 9-4 lead, but the Bulldogs outscored the Aggies 21-13 during the rest of the set to win by three points and cut the match lead to 2-1. The Aggies clinched the fourth set and the match with a 9-0 run to take a 24-12 lead.
A&T's regular season ended on a high note when a familiar sight to Aggie fans happened. Shabazz took a pass from Brewer for a kill.
A&T's first-ever Big South volleyball tournament match will be at 4:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 19, at Campbell University. The winner will face top-seeded High Point University, Saturday night at 7. The championship match is scheduled for 4 p.m., Sunday.
On Saturday, Sawtelle added eight kills and 11 digs for A&T. Porcher recorded eight kills and four blocks.
Molly Hackett led UNC Asheville with 13 kills.
