Another highly successful campaign ended for East Carolina Friday night inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum in a 3-1 (25-11, 18-25, 20-25, 18-25) setback to UConn in the Super 16 round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
The Pirates end the 2024 season with a 19-10 overall record while the Huskies improve to 26-7 in advancing to the NIVC Great 8.
East Carolina’s right-side duo of Fran McBride and Aulie Huff were nearly flawless on the offensive end, combining for 27 kills and just one error on 53 attempts for a .419 hitting percentage. Defensively, Ellie Pate racked up a career-high 18 digs to go along with nine kills while Carlia Northcross posted five total blocks. Hanna Tylska led UConn with 18 kills.
The Pirates out-hit the Huskies .265 to .255 while also holding an 11.0 to 4.0 advantage in total blocks. UConn edged out ECU in the digs column (59-58) as well as in total kills (55-49).
In perhaps their cleanest set of volleyball all year, the Pirates absolutely blitzed the Huskies to open the match – hitting .371 with 14 kills and notching a whopping five service aces on the way to a 14-point victory and an early cushion. East Carolina was unable to sustain that high level of play, however, as UConn settled in and glided to a seven point second-set win.
ECU fell behind 16-11 in the third frame but fought back to knot the score at 19 thanks to a Husky attacking error. With things even at 20 a few rallies later, the visitors rattled of five-straight points to take the stanza.
Looking to extend the contest to a deciding set, the Pirates fought their way to a 14-14 deadlock, but it was not in the cards as UConn put together an 8-1 run that proved insurmountable.
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