Sept. 25, 2009

Final Stats

DURHAM, N.C. - The Eagles swept day one of the NCCU Volleyball Tournament with victories against Winston-Salem State and Hampton on Friday, standing at 2-0 in the tournament. NCCU is riding a three-match winning streak heading into the final day of the tournament.

"I am very proud of the way we played today," said NCCU head coach Georgette Crawford-Crooks. "We had two tough opponents ahead of us and we came out and fought hard. We came out strong in both matches and we did what we needed to do to finish."

NCCU started the day off with a 3-1 victory over Winston-Salem State, improving to 30-1 all-time against the Rams. With the victory, the Eagles continue to dominate over the Rams, having won 17-straight matches. The Eagles put on an impressive performance on both sides of the net, hitting a .187 off of 42 kills and 107 total attacks. They outnumbered the Rams in all categories with 36 assists, 40 digs and nine blocks.

The Eagles continued their consistency with their blocking game, while Avaniki Campbell continued to dominate on the net with two blocks, followed by Kiara Brown with two blocks. Raven King added a team-high 12 digs to the Eagles' defensive efforts. NCCU held the Rams to a .101 hitting percentage with 33 kills and 99 total attacks.

Offensively, the Eagles were led by Campbell who hit an impressive .333 with a team-high 11 kills. Belinda Behncke-Biney collected nine kills and tallied seven digs to contribute on defense. Kiara Brown recorded 32 assists and contributed from the service line with three aces.

Winston-Salem State was led by Annika Barnwell on offense with 15 kills, followed by Ashley Harris with nine. Defensively, the Rams were anchored by LaKeisha Hawes with 11 digs and Jasmine Frazier, who tallied three blocks. As a team, the Rams had 33 kills, 31 assists, 36 digs and seven blocks.

NCCU won the first set 25-14 before the Rams managed to slip by the Eagles with a 25-21 win. With the match tied at one set apiece, the Eagles decided to take control. A determined Eagles team fought hard to take control of the set once more and defeated the Rams, 25-17, leaving them one set shy of taking the match. With victory within reach, the Eagles fought hard and rode a .269 hitting percentage to a 25-18 win.

The Eagles snatched their second-straight win and improved to 3-13 on the season, while the Rams, who are still fighting to get their second win, dropped to 1-16 on the season.

NCCU looked to get another victory as they headed into their final match of the day. The Eagles faced Hampton in the night cap and rallied to defeat the Pirates, 3-1. Their one-set loss to the Pirates was Hampton's first time ever taking a set from NCCU in program history, but the Eagles managed to hang on to perfection, increasing their advantage to 4-0 all-time against the Pirates.

The Eagles opened the first set with a 7-1 lead, which forced the Pirates to call a timeout. Hampton trailed for much of the set, but managed to fight back to cut the deficit to one at 14-13 and quickly tied the set at 14 after a kill by Aaryn Harrison. The Eagles refused to let the Pirates take control as Hampton continued to fight. Hampton managed to take the lead on three different occasions before the Eagles finally grabbed a hold of the set and closed it out with a 5-1 run to win 25-21.

Unlike the first match, the Eagles looked to take this one home in three-straight sets, taking the second set, 25-22. Hampton earned the first two points of the set, but once the Eagles hit the 2-2 mark, they were in control for the entire set, never allowing Hampton to get within striking distance. NCCU scored the last three points of the match to claim the win and leaving them one set shy of sweeping the day.

In what looked like would be a NCCU sweep, Hampton decided to change the tempo of the match. This time, the Eagles earned the first two points of the set but this time it was the other way around. When the Pirates hit the 6-6 mark, they never looked back. Hampton controlled the rest of the set, capitalizing on the Eagles' 10 errors and only eight kills. The Pirates rode a .208 hitting percentage to a 25-17 victory, which forced a fourth set.

In the fourth set, it looked like the Eagles were to drop another set, forcing do or die. NCCU trailed for most of the set, down by as many as seven. Hampton controlled the entire match with the Eagles unable to tie or jump in front. An Eagles' team that was down the whole set, reached deep inside and found heart and determination and they managed to cut the Pirates' lead to two, 23-21.

NCCU cut the deficit to one after Aqiyla Gomez, Alexis John and Behncke-Biney recorded a block. An attack error by Harrison tied the set at 23, marking the first tie of the set. Hampton was forced to call a timeout. The Pirates quickly responded out of the timeout, but the Eagles answered back to tie the set at 24.

With the scored tied at 24, the Eagles were determined to claim the victory and scored two-straight points off a service ace by Behncke-Biney and a Pirate attack error, which gave the Eagles a 26-24 win, earning a 3-1 victory.

"I was really impressed with the way the team played in the final match," added Crawford-Crooks. "Hampton is such a good team and to come from behind against them and take the fourth set to win was great. That is something we have been working on in practice and it paid off tonight."

The Eagles had two student-athletes hit in double-digits with Behncke-Biney with 13 kills and Campbell with 11. Brown added 24 assists. Defensively, NCCU was led by King with 12 digs and Campbell with a team-high five blocks. Shantel Moore added four blocks to the Eagles' impressive total of 17 blocks in the match.

As a team, the Eagles had 41 kills on 129 attacks for a .101 hitting percentage, while added 30 assists, 44 digs and 17 blocks. They held the Pirates to a.124 hitting percentage with 41 kills on 121 attacks and 42 digs.

Hampton had two players hit in double-digits with Mianna Armstrong and Brittany Wynne, who recorded 10 and 13 kills, respectively. Three played notched double-digit digs. Ivana Suput had a match-high 14 digs, while Harrison and Armstrong each had 10.

The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 26 to conclude the NCCU Volleyball Tournament. NCCU will face rival North Carolina A&T at 1 p.m., followed by Delaware State at 5 p.m. Up-to-date statistics and results can be found on the tournament page at www.NCCUEaglePride.com.