DURHAM, North Carolina – The North Carolina Central University volleyball team (2-22, 2-4 MEAC) remains home for a weekend filled with Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action. The Eagles open with Bethune-Cookman on Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m., followed by a matchup with Florida A&M on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m., in the Leroy T. Walker Complex.

LAST TIME OUT
NCCU pulled off a thrilling five-set, 3-2 victory (25-21, 16-25, 27-25, 26-28, 15-11) against the long-time rival North Carolina A&T State University Aggies on Sunday, Oct. 26 in McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium.

Sophomore Kelsey Murphy (Rancho Cucamonga, California) and Senior Emily Eswonia (Tempe, Arizona) had career-high afternoons.

Murphy lead the match with 21 kills (.200) and Eswonia had a personal best of eight kills (.250) and 23 digs. Eswonia also contributed a pair of service aces.

Redshirt junior Melissa Rabell Pineiro (Canovanas, Puerto Rico) posted her seventh double-digit performance this season with 29 digs; also a game high.

LAST TIME AGAINST B-CU
Four Eagles finished with career-best outings as NCCU dropped a heartbreaking five-set decision to the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, 3-2 (22-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-10) on Sunday, Oct. 5 in Daytona Beach, Fla., at Moore Gymnasium.

Senior Ashley McCarthy (Elmont, New York) led the way for NCCU (0-20, 0-3 MEAC) collecting a career-high 24 kills (.283) while adding three blocks.

Offensively, redshirt junior Denni Johnson (Ashburn, Virigina) trailed McCarthy, also contributing career-best kill performances with 17, while Johnson also led the match with four blocks and Murphy earned her fourth double-double of the season with 15 digs. 

On the defensive end, Rabell Pineiro dug a career-high 30 digs, rookie Anastaja Jones (Frisco, Texas) collected a season-best four blocks and senior Alice Genna (Rome, Italy) earned her first assist/dig double-double of the season with 32 assists and 15 digs.

LAST TIME AGAINST FAMU
Aside from a close finish during the first set, NCCU dropped a 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-19) match to the Florida A&M Rattlers (5-10, 3-0 MEAC) on Friday, Oct. 3 in Tully Gymnasium on the campus of Florida State.

Murphy led the Eagles offensively during the match finishing with a team-best eight kills and tied her career-best four services aces during the match-up.

Johnson and Jones trailed Murphy with seven and five kills apiece.

Freshman Paige Phillips (Birmingham, Alabama) directed the NCCU offense during the loss finishing with a team-high 17 assists while Rabell Pineiro led with 10 digs.

LEADING NCCU
Murphy continues to lead NCCU offensively on the season with 204 kills (2.55 k/s) and 32 service aces, earning her a top-five spot in the MEAC standings with .40 aces per set. She has also collected a team second-best 154 digs and 23.0 total blocks.

Trailing Murphy offensively, McCarthy and Brown have collected 137 and 129 kills respectively, while running the offense for the Eagles has been Phillips who has dished 436 (5.66 a/s) assist on the season, ranking her in the top-ten in league play.

Defensively, junior Rabell Piniero heads NCCU with 222 digs on the season (2.81 d/s), in addition to McCarthy's team-best 53.0 blocks.