East Carolina closed out its regular season home slate Wednesday night with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-19) American Athletic Conference victory over Charlotte, sweeping the season series in the process.
The Pirates (17-8, 10-5 AAC) temporarily moved ahead of Tulsa for sole possession of fourth place in the league standings while securing a 9-2 mark inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. ECU’s .818 winning percentage at home is a program single-season record. East Carolina also notched double-digit AAC victories for the second-straight campaign and the third time since joining the conference prior to the 2014 season (2017, 2023 and 2024).
ECU met little resistance, putting down 39 kills on 98 attempts with just 11 errors for a .286 hitting percentage, while the 49ers (5-23, 2-13 AAC) mustered up just 24 kills and hit a paltry .071. The Pirates also held the upper hand in service aces (6-3), digs (51-45) and total blocks (7.0 to 4.0).
Angeles Alderete and Ellie Pate paced East Carolina with nine kills apiece to go along with an 11-dig performance by Tia Shum. Alderete added nine digs and three service aces to her ledger. Jessica Ricks topped the visiting Charlotte side with seven kills.
The Pirates began to pull away in the middle stages of the opening frame as a kill by Fran McBride afforded the Purple and Gold a 15-10 edge. The 49ers got no closer than four the rest of the way and Shum ended the stanza with an ace.
It was all ECU in the second set. Charlotte struggled to create anything offensively and ended up firing at a negative percentage in the period. East Carolina built leads of 6-1 and 17-8 on the way to the 13-point victory and a 2-0 match advantage.
The Pirates lost their edge a bit in the early portion of the third and fell behind 12-7. Following a timeout to regroup, ECU went on a 10-5 run that knotted the score at 17. A kill by Alderete would then give East Carolina control for good as Izzy Marinelli ended the contest with a laser into the heart of the 49er defense.
Up Next: ECU plays its final regular season match Friday (Nov. 15) in Philadelphia where it looks for the season series sweep of Temple. First serve at McGonigle Hall is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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