By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — One of the most entertaining collegiate volleyball matches of recent memory blessed the Holmes Convocation Center on Sept. 7, in the opening match of the Black and Gold Invitational. North Carolina A&T took host Appalachian State to the brink of its first loss but somehow the Mountaineers found a way to come out on top, 3-2 (21-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-23, 16-14), and remain undefeated at 7-0 for the young 2023 season.
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It is the best start to a fall volleyball campaign for the Mountaineers since they went 13-0 at the beginning of the 2014 season.
On the surface, the Mountaineers squandered several scoring opportunities with service errors, but head coach Sarah Rumely Noble dismissed that notion as a consequence of overall team strategy.
“We knew they had some big hitters,” said Noble, “so we wanted to be aggressive with our serves, aiming to take them out of their system. When you are aggressive with serving, odds increase that you will make mistakes along the way. So I have no problem with our service errors.”
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE NOTES
- Junior Lulu Ambrose recorded a team-high 15 kills on the evening.
- Fifth-year senior McCall Denny notched her third double-double on the season with 13 kills and 15 digs.
- freshman Delanie Grevengoed posted a career-high 13 kills.
- Redshirt freshman Katie Cruise led the team with 30 assists and four aces.
- Senior Sophie Cain posted 24 assists.
- Leading the team in the digs category was sophomore Kenady Roper, with 24.
- Junior Lauren Pledger and freshman Ava Leahy each notched eight blocks on the night.
While App State seemed to dominate the third set with a 25-14 advantage, all four of the others were tense, white-knuckle battles that felt like they could go either way.
“A tight, 5-set volleyball match is likely to show up in the final statistics,” said Noble. “The differences between the two teams’ numbers are often very small.”
Indeed, on attack the Mountaineers had just four more kills than the Aggies, 63 vs. 59, and both teams had commendable attack percentages, 0.222 for App State and 0.194 for NC A&T.
Although the Mountaineers were aggressive in their serving and had a number of service errors, they still managed to carve out a 9-5 advantage in service aces, including four by Katie Cruise.
Where A&T really stayed in the game was on defense. They recorded 14 blocks compared to the Mountaineers’ 12. And the Aggies kept the ball in play defending against App State’s big hitters, with 83 digs vs. the home team’s 60. There was only a 1-assist difference between the two teams, App State with 57 assists vs. NC A&T with 56.
The Mountaineers will have little time to celebrate. They play the second match of the tourney on Friday morning, 11 a.m., hosting the University of South Carolina-Upstate in the Holmes Center. They close the tournament on Sept. 9, 2 p.m., taking on in-state rival, UNC-Greensboro, also at the Holmes Center.
After an away tournament at Davidson where the Mountaineers will take on the Wildcats on Sept. 14, 7 p.m., then Wake Forest on Sept. 15, at 6 p.m., they open Sun Belt Conference play at home on Sept. 22 vs. James Madison, at 6 p.m., then Sept. 23 vs. the Dukes at 1 p.m.
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