ELON, N.C. --The North Carolina Central volleyball team was tripped up in two tough matches against Murray State University and UNC Greensboro at the Elon Phoenix Classic on Friday at the Schar Center.
The Eagles grabbed a two-set lead in the first match but couldn't hold on and fell in five sets (25-19, 25-21, 14-25, 19-25, 11-15) to the Murray State Racers.
Against Murray State, the Eagles offense was paced by Emmie Modlin, who finished with 17 kills on the day. Kamren Harper and Makenzi Searcy chipped in with 16 kills each as part of a balanced North Carolina Central attack. Defensively, three players reached double figures in digs, including Loren Johnson's 21, 12 from Gabriela Felix-Baeza, and 12 more from Bella Dearinger. From the front row, Kayden Cupid contributed eight blocks.
The Eagles cruised to an early lead, handily winning the first set 25-19. North Carolina Central grabbed the advantage for good at 18-17 in a set that had just one lead change before the Eagles took over in the second half of the stanza. NCCU capitalized on 10 Murray State attacking errors on the way to a 1-0 advantage.
North Carolina Central took set two 25-21 to promptly jump to a 2-0 lead. The Eagles never trailed by more than five points in the set with two lead changes before the Eagles took over in the second half.
The Racers went on to take the next two sets pushing the match to a deciding fifth set. After dropping the first point, Murray State kept the lead and never relinquished, securing the victory.
Later in the afternoon, the UNC Greensboro Spartans posted a four-set (13-25, 13-25, 25-22, 21-25) victory over NCCU.
Searcy finished with 10 kills in the match to lead the Eagles' offense as well as nine digs from Johnson to lead them defensively in the finale with UNCG.
After dropping the opening two sets, North Carolina Central fought back to grab the third set and make it a 2-1 match. NC Central took the lead, winning 25-22 in the third posting six ties and five lead changes. The Eagles' offense also got a boost from four aces.
NCCU couldn't build off the set-three victory and lost in the fourth set 25-21 to drop the match. The Eagles fell behind on the first point and never clawed back into the lead before falling.
The Maroon and Gray look to bounce back as they play the host school Elon University on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. completing their weekend road trip.
Game Notes – Match 1
» North Carolina Central had three players in double figures in kills.
» North Carolina Central had three players in double figures in digs.
» Emmie Modlin had a match-high three aces in the loss.
» Emmie Modlin had a team-high 17 kills for North Carolina Central.
» North Carolina Central got a team-high 21 digs from Loren Johnson.
» North Carolina Central attackers were helped by a match-high 52 assists from Bella Dearinger.
Game Notes – Match 2
» Tayah Little had a team-high three aces in the loss.
» Makenzi Searcy had a team-high 10 kills for North Carolina Central.
» North Carolina Central got a team-high nine digs from Loren Johnson.
» North Carolina Central attackers were helped by a team-high 21 assists from Bella Dearinger.
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