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MEAC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
 
DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University volleyball team will make its second consecutive appearance in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Volleyball Championship Tournament when the Lady Eagles travel to Princess Anne, Maryland, to play host University of Maryland Eastern Shore in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m.
 
NCCU will be providing a FREE live audio webcast of all NCCU matches in the tourney. Mike Wood will be on the air providing the play-by-play. Fans can follow NCCU volleyball all season by visiting NCCUEaglePride.com and on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 
MEAC Information
 
The 2017 MEAC Volleyball Championship will be held Friday-Sunday, Nov. 17-19, at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center on the campus of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Maryland.
 
The 2017 MEAC Volleyball Championship will begin on Friday at 10 a.m. with South No. 2 Florida A&M taking on North No. 3 Morgan State. That will be followed at 1 p.m. by a match pitting North top seed Maryland Eastern Shore and South No. 4 North Carolina Central. South No. 1 Bethune-Cookman-North No. 4 Hampton will follow at 4 p.m., with the quarterfinal round wrapping up at 7 p.m. when North No. 2 Howard takes on South No. 3 North Carolina A&T State.
 
Saturday's semifinal matches will be at 12 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Sunday's championship match is set for 12 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPNU and ESPN3.
 
The tournament champion will earn the MEAC's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship.
 
Tickets to the 2017 MEAC Volleyball Championship are $8 per day or $20 for all three days. To purchase tickets, please visit TICKETS or call (410) 621-3311.
 
Tickets are also available at the gate each day.
 
Match Info


1 PM – #4S N.C. Central at #1N Maryland Eastern Shore
W.P. Hytche Athletic Center, Princess Anne, Md.
LISTEN | STATS
 
N.C. Central Volleyball
 
The Lady Eagles finished the regular season with a 4-6 record in the Southern Division of the MEAC to earn a fourth seed for a second straight season under the leadership of second-year head coach Jody Brown. NCCU (4-19 Overall) is making its fifth total appearance in the MEAC tourney since joining the league in 2011 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017) and the Lady Eagles are 0-4 in the quarterfinals heading into Friday's showdown.
 
Junior Whitney White has moved into the team lead with 2.16 kills per set. She also paces the maroon and gray with a .276 hitting percentage and 59 total blocks.
 
Four other Lady Eagles average over one kill per set in freshman Da'Nesha Miller (2.05), freshman Christine Alcox (1.85), junior Kierra Shipman (1.66), junior Jazmine Daye (1.47) and junior Erika Ianovale (1.06).
 
Senior setter Paige Phillips is NCCU's Division I era all-time leader in total assists. She is tallying 7.67 assists per set, which ranks fifth in the conference.
 
Junior libero Bree Simmons totals 3.41 digs per set – ninth best in the MEAC – while serving up 0.21 aces per set.
 
NCCU's defense, which ranks fourth in the MEAC with 13.84 digs per set, will be tested on Friday against Maryland Eastern Shore attack that is hitting .271 on the season (top in the league).
 
The Lady Eagles last played the Hawks in the MDES Fall Fling on Sept. 11, 2015, and lost 3-0. White had five kills and hit .308 in that contest.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore Volleyball
 
The Hawks posted a perfect 12-0 league ledger in the Northern Division under MEAC Coach of the Year Toby Rens. Maryland Eastern Shore won its last five matches to finish with a 26-7 overall record. The Hawks did lose to one Southern Division foe in North Carolina A&T in September.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore leads the nation out of 329 DI volleyball programs with 2.05 aces per set. A trio of Hawks rank in the top-25 nationally in aces per set: sophomore outside hitter Iva Vujosevic (0.48/12th), sophomore setter Ivana Blazevic (0.47/16th) and junior outside hitter Lucia Babic (0.44/25th).
 
Vujosevic garnered First Team All-MEAC honors after averaging 3.22 kills per set (fifth in the MEAC) with a .271 hitting percentage (seventh in the MEAC). Babic earned All-MEAC honors for a third consecutive season and is producing 2.79 kills per set with a .302 hitting percentage (fourth in the MEAC).
 
Three other Hawks average over one kill per set with hitting percentages over .200 in junior Rachel Kayongo (2.57/.235), Mere Serea (1.23/.323) and Alana Polk (1.22/.300).  
 
Kayongo and junior libero Maja Jankovic, who is averaging a team-best 3.28 digs per set, are the only two Hawks to play all 33 matches this season. Serea leads the squad with 1.01 blocks per set, which is the second best average in the league. Polk was an All-MEAC honoree in 2015.
 
Blazevic ranks fourth in the MEAC with 8.47 assists per set. She was an All-MEAC selection in 2016.
 
Polk and Kayongo both ripped six kills in Maryland Eastern Shore's 25-12, 25-17, 26-24 victory over NCCU in 2015. Babic added five kills as the Hawks improved to a flawless 9-0 against the Lady Eagles in NCCU's DI era (since 2007).