EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T won its fourth consecutive volleyball match with a straight-set win (28-26, 25-18, 25-18) against Gardner-Webb at Moore Gymnasium Friday night.
Naiya Sawtelle (6-foot, FR, outside hitter, Stuart, Fla.) led the Aggies with a match-high 20 kills, tied for the third-most in a three-setter in school history. She recorded a .385 hitting percentage to add to her night.
"I'm trying to be more focused. It's less about trying to hit the ball and more about where I want to place it," said Sawtelle. "I'm trying to see where the block is. My teammates sometimes yell where it's open on the court. It's been working so far.
I'm going to keep working on that, and then add the power in as much as I can."
Andrea Laboy-Rivera (5-5, SR, libero, Coamo, Puerto Rico) led the team with 21 digs, and Shaylynn Hall (6-2, SR, middle blocker, Raleigh, N.C.) added seven kills, five blocks, including two solo blocks, and a .636 hitting percentage.
Hall's three block assists give her 90 this season, the fifth most in an A&T single-season. She is now tied for third all-time in school history with 231.
The Aggies (15-7, 7-3 Big South Conference) entered the match in a three-way tie for third. The win sits the Aggies alone in third place in the league behind High Point University and Campbell. Gardner-Webb (7-12, 4-5 Big South) lost its second straight.
"We had a little of ebb and flow, which worried us a little bit," A&T coach Hal Clifton said.
"To get a big lead, and then Gardner-Webb fought hard, and we weren't able to stop their runs early, and they were able to get in touch with us. A little disappointed in that but proud that we stayed patient at the end of that first set. Made touch-for-touch and played cleaned and pulled that first set victory out."
Clifton's Aggies had to face set point in the first after Kylee Garrison's kill gave the Bulldogs a 24-23 lead. But Sawtelle recorded her seventh kill of the set to tie the set at 24. A kill from Hannah Howell (6-0, FR, OH, St Louis Park, Minn.) gave A&T a 25-24 lead forcing a Gardner-Webb timeout.
After the timeout, another Garrison kill tied the set again. The two teams then traded kills before back-to-back Hannah Donaldson attack errors earned the Aggies the first set win.
The Aggies outscored Gardner-Webb 19-10 to begin the second frame, but GWU went on a 7-1 run to cut the Aggies lead to 20-17. However, GWU became mistake-prone from there. The Bulldogs committed three attack errors during a 5-1 Aggies spurt that clinched the second set for A&T.
GWU did take a 7-2 lead in the third, but the momentum quickly swung in A&T's favor as Sawtelle recorded seven kills over the next 14 points scored by A&T to put the Aggies in the lead, 16-12. After that, GWU never saw the lead again, even though they cut A&T's lead to two at 20-18.
But A&T scored the final five points, ending the set and the match with a Howell kill. Sawtelle recorded 10 kills in the third set with a .529 hitting percentage. In eight sets played this week, Sawtelle posted 44 kills, and Laboy-Rivera recorded 60 digs.
In addition, Addy Warfield (5-9, JR, setter, Winter Springs, Fla.) recorded a double-double with 13 assists and 10 digs against the Bulldogs. Edie Brewer (6-0, GR, setter, West Chester, Ohio) recorded a team-high 26 assists and added eight digs and two blocks. Fatimah Shabazz (6-0, SR, right side, Cincinnati, Ohio) recorded six kills and two blocks.
Howell added six kills, six digs and two blocks. Morgan Allen (5-5, SO, defensive specialist, Charlotte, N.C.) had seven digs.
"Going into the match, it was one that we knew that we had to win, and we want to do it efficiently and quickly to the best of our ability," Brewer said. "We were focused, and we wanted to handle our business."
Garrison led Gardner-Webb with 12 kills. Tori Weatherley had a match-high 30 assists, and Mikah McIntosh finished with 26 digs.
