By Brian Holloway, North Carolina A&T Sports Information,
EAST GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T volleyball program released its 2023 schedule on Thursday, featuring eight home matches, all against Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opponents, three non-conference tournaments and multiple home-match promotions at Moore Gymnasium.
“We are excited to announce our fall schedule,” said head coach Hal Clifton, who will enter his 13th season as the leader of the Aggies volleyball program. “We have a lot of good matches lined up. Our preseason tournaments will prepare us for competition in the CAA. We have a couple of new opponents, including seeing Stony Brook and Delaware in conference play for the first time. We also have a few familiar faces on the schedule, which is nice. I like how the schedule worked out. We will be challenged in different ways in each match. It should be an exciting fall for Aggie volleyball.”
A&T opens the season in Charlottesville, Va., at the University of Virginia Cavalier Classic on Aug. 25. The Aggies’ opponent will be the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. It will be the first meeting between the two schools. A&T will also play in the classic on Aug. 26. Their opponent will be determined by what happens in the other match at UVa., on Friday night.
The Aggies will play in two other pre-conference tournaments. They will play Charleston Southern, UT-Chattanooga and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE) in matchups stemming from Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at the Charleston Southern Invitational in Charleston, S.C. Their final tune-up before conference play will be at the Appalachian State Black and Gold Classic from Sept. 7-9, where they will play host Appalachian State, UNC Greensboro and the USC Upstate.
A&T went 5-11 in its first season as a CAA member. They missed the CAA tournament in a tiebreaker to Stony Brook after the Seawolves upset Elon in their season finale. In 2023, the Aggies open conference play with a two-match weekend series at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). The Aggies won two five-setters at home last season against the Seahawks. UNCW leads the series, 25-7.
A familiar opponent will visit the Aggies for their home opener at Moore on Sept. 23 in the Hampton Pirates. In addition, the Aggies will honor former A&T volleyball standout Fatimah Shabazz as a part of Aneurysm Awareness Day on the 23rd. Shabazz died from an aneurysm on Nov. 28, 2021, at the age of 22. She was an All-MEAC performer and helped the Aggies to their first-ever MEAC tournament title in the spring of 2021.
Hampton and A&T will play again at Moore on Sept. 24. The Aggies and the Pirates were members of the same conference in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), the Big South Conference, and now the CAA. The Aggies lead the series 28-3, including a two-match sweep last season.
A&T’s remaining two-match CAA road series are at Stony Brook (Sept. 30-Oct.1), at Elon (Oct. 14-15), at William & Mary (Oct. 19-20) and at Delaware (Nov. 4-5). The remaining home series are against Hofstra (Oct. 7-8), Towson (Oct. 28-29) and Campbell (Nov. 11-12).
Oct. 7 will serve as Community Day. Club/High School Day is Oct. 28, and Oct. 29 is A&T’s Dig Pink match for Breast Cancer Awareness. Greek Night/Black Out takes place on Nov. 11, and Senior Day is on Nov. 12.
The Aggies went 9-17 overall last season.
Date Time At Opponent Location Tournament Result Aug 25 (Fri) 4:30 P.M. Neutral Rutgers University Charlottesville, Va. (Memorial Gym) Aug 26 (Sat) 12 P.M./2:30 P.M. Neutral TBD Charlottesville, Va. (Memorial Gym) Aug 31 (Thu) 6 P.M. Away Charleston Southern University Charleston, SC (Buccaneer Fieldhouse) Sep 1 (Fri) 5 P.M. Neutral University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Charleston, SC (Buccaneer Fieldhouse) Sep 2 (Sat) 2 P.M. Neutral Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Charleston, SC (Buccaneer Fieldhouse) Sep 7 (Thu) 6 P.M. Away Appalachian State University Boone, NC (Holmes Convocation Center ) Sep 8 (Fri) 2 P.M. Neutral UNC Greensboro Boone, NC (Holmes Convocation Center ) Sep 9 (Sat) 11 A.M. Neutral University of South Carolina - Upstate Boone, NC (Holmes Convocation Center ) Sep 16 (Sat) 4 P.M. Away University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington, NC (Hanover Hall ) Sep 17 (Sun) 2 P.M. Away University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington, NC (Hanover Hall ) Sep 23 (Sat) 2 P.M. Home Hampton University Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium) Sep 24 (Sun) 2 P.M. Home Hampton University Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium) Sep 30 (Sat) 1 P.M. Away Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY (Pritchard Gymnasium ) Oct 1 (Sun) 12 P.M. Away Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY (Pritchard Gymnasium ) Oct 7 (Sat) 12 P.M. Home Hofstra University Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium) Oct 8 (Sun) 1 P.M. Home Hofstra University Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium) Oct 14 (Sat) 2 P.M. Away Elon University Elon, NC (Schar Center ) Oct 15 (Sun) 2 P.M. Away Elon University Elon, NC (Schar Center ) Oct 19 (Thu) 7 P.M. Away William & Mary Williamsburg, VA (Kaplan Arena ) Oct 20 (Fri) 7 P.M. Away William & Mary Williamsburg, VA (Kaplan Arena ) Oct 28 (Sat) 2 P.M. Home Towson University Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium) Oct 29 (Sun) 2 P.M. Home Towson University Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium) Nov 4 (Sat) 6 P.M. Away University of Delaware Newark, DE (Bob Carpenter Center ) Nov 5 (Sun) 3 P.M. Away University of Delaware Newark, DE (Bob Carpenter Center ) Nov 11 (Sat) 2 P.M. Home Campbell University Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium) Nov 12 (Sun) 2 P.M. Home Campbell University Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium)
