By james art 
GREENSBORO– The North Carolina A&T volleyball team moved closer to clinching its first-ever Coastal Athletic Conference (CAA) tournament bid with its fifth straight victory, a three-set victory (25-23, 23, 23) over Piedmont Triad and rival Elon on Saturday at Moore High School.
With the win, the Aggies improved to 14-7 overall and 9-4 in CAA play. While the Aggies are in fifth place, they are now one game out of second and 1 ½ out of first. On the flip side of the math, the Aggies lead Northeastern, the league’s seventh-ranked team, by three games with five games remaining.
A&T split a two-game weekend series with Northeastern earlier this season. After the league takes into account all tiebreakers, the top six teams will advance to the 2024 CAA Volleyball Championship Tournament, Nov. 21-23, in Towson, Md. The Phoenix, who are vying for the sixth and final tournament spot with the likes of Northeastern and Stony Brook, fell to 11-13 overall and 5-8 in CAA play as the two teams prepare to play again Sunday at 3 p.m. by Moore.
“I thought we performed really well,” the A&T head coach said Hal Clifton. “We knew it was going to be a battle; we knew it would be difficult.
Freshman Tyne Ross led the Aggies, recording her fourth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 12 digs. Senior Hannah Howell added 11 kills. Sophomore Leonor Polesi recorded his third straight double-double and ninth of 2024 with 36 assists and 10 digs. A&T’s versatile setter also accounted for five blocks.
All three games on Saturday were super competitive. A&T started off strong in the first set, taking a 5-1 lead before Elon called a timeout to rally. It works. Elon rallied to make it 6-6. It was a back-and-forth game until the Aggies went on a 3-0 run to take a 13-9 lead. However, Elon was not about to go away and stormed back to tie the set at 19.
Elon tied the game again, this time at 22-22, before a Ross kill gave the Aggies a one-point advantage. Elon’s Clara LaRue tied the set again with a kill before a Howell kill and an assist on a block by the freshman Luka Radnai and Polezzi gave the Aggies a 1-0 game lead. Elon jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second set before the Aggies offense erupted and went on a 9-1 run to take a 10-4 lead.
A&T maintained a comfortable lead after Ross had another kill, putting the Aggies ahead 20-14. But the Phoenix came back again like a storm. Elon’s 7-1 rally tied the set at 21-21. Elon even took a 23-22 lead on a Sydney Love kill. But on Love’s next drive, Radnai and Polesi combined for another block assist. That was followed by a Howell service ace and another Radnai/Polezzi block assist to give the Aggies a 2-0 advantage in the match.
There was no comfortable lead in the third set. Neither team led by more than two points until the Aggies went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-9 lead, forcing an Elon timeout. After the break, Phoenix went on a 5-0 run to take a 14-13 lead. Elon looked poised to force a fourth set, taking a 21-19 lead on a Cameron Lanier kill. The lead remained two when Caroline Burlekamp and Lindsey Harris combined for a block assist to put Elon ahead 23-21.
Once again, though, the Aggies turned the corner toward the end of the set. Howell got the party started with back-to-back kills before the sophomore libero Valeria Estrada gave the Aggies a match and set up a point with an ace Howell finished off the Phoenix with another kill. Love led Phoenix with 11 kills.