EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T's volleyball players about to experience something no other volleyball players in the school's history have experienced.
They are headed to the NCAA tournament. The Aggies discovered on Sunday that their first-round opponent would be the Rice Owls. The NCAA will have the entire tournament in Omaha, Neb. The Aggies and the Owls will square off at 10:30 p.m. EST, Wednesday, April 14, on ESPN3.
"We are so excited to represent North Carolina A&T and the (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) MEAC in the NCAA Tournament," A&T coach Hal Clifton said. "This is the result of years of hard work from both past and present. This is such a deserving group of young ladies. The amount of work they put in starting last fall amid the pandemic has been incredible."
In the Aggies final year of being a member of the MEAC, the Aggies won the tournament for the first time in school history. A&T will be making their second postseason bid in school history after the Aggies earned an at-large bid to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) last season in Atlanta.
They lost their first-round matchup to Troy.
The Aggies have posted a 55-42 (.567) record the last four seasons. They are a 34-8 (.810) against MEAC teams during the regular season the last four years. In the same span, the Aggies have two MEAC southern division titles and a conference championship.
A&T has posted at least a .500 winning percentage in each of the four seasons.
Senior setter Edie Brewer, the reigning two-time MEAC player of the year, ranks fourth in the MEAC in assists per set (6.83) and second in service aces per set (0.62). Brewer also ranks eighth in digs per set (2.60). She recorded her ninth career triple-double on Friday in the Aggies five-set win over Delaware State in the MEAC tournament semifinal match at Norfolk State's Echols Hall.
Brewer is a two-time first-team All-MEAC performer.
She was the 2021 MEAC tournament's most outstanding player after recording 58 assists, 23 kills and 26 digs in two matches.
First-team All-MEAC junior hitter Fatimah Shabazz leads the MEAC with 3.83 kills per set and ranks third with a .359 hitting percentage. Junior middle blocker Shaylynn Hall leads the MEAC with 1.20 blocks per set and ranks fourth with a .356 hitting percentage.
Rice is 16-5 on the season and went 12-0 in the western division of Conference-USA. Rice defeated No. 2 Texas in five sets for their biggest win of the season. The Owls also took No. 6 Baylor to five sets before losing. Rice won the first two games of the C-USA tournament but fell to No. 19 Western Kentucky in the championship match 3-1.
Nicole Lennon leads the Owls with 4.29 kills per set. Anota Adekunle averages 2.75 kills per set. Setter Carly Graham averages 10.44 assists per set, and Nia McCardell is the leader in digs per set (3.37).
Satasha Kostelecky leads the Owls at the net with 0.91 blocks per set.
