BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The fourth-seeded North Carolina A&T Aggies fell to the top seed, the High Point University Panthers in straight sets (25-22, 17, 18) Saturday night in the semifinals of the Big South Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament at Campbell University's Gilbert Craig Gore Arena.
A&T (20-9) lost in straight sets for only the second time in 18 Big South matches.
"I was really excited for the players," A&T coach Hal Clifton said about A&T's 20-win season. "That's a huge benchmark in our program to get 20 wins. They worked hard. They earned it. They weren't expected to get it, and they went out and competed hard every night. I don't think you can ask more for the program than that to compete for every point. Even the last point in this last match was hard-fought, and that's one of the things that I'm proud of this program."
Naiya Sawtelle (Stuart, Fla.) led the Aggies with 11 kills and recorded a .258 hitting percentage.
Edie Brewer (West Chester, Ohio) recorded her second consecutive triple-double with 11 kills, 10 assists and 10 digs. She added two block assists to give her 214 career block assists, fourth all-time in school history.
"That's a huge accomplishment," Clifton said on Brewer's two triple-doubles in the tournament. "It's a huge testament to her level of skill and her ability to play at this high level. It's one of those things that it's not an easy thing to do. But, she went out and competed and got it done."
Sawtelle's 384 kills as a freshman is the school's seventh-best performance in a single season.
Sawtelle's two kills during a 5-0 run propelled A&T to a 19-14 first-set lead.
The Panthers scored the next four points to cut the lead to 19-18, but a Brewer kill gave the Aggies a 20-18 advantage. After a Maria Miggins kill cut the lead to 20-19, Dylan Maberry tied the set at 20 on a kill that referees originally called out.
HPU took advantage of the call by scoring two more points to take a 22-20 lead. The Aggies never led again. A service error put the Aggies down one, 23-22, but a kill by Maberry and another by Sydney Palazzolo gave HPU set No. 1.
The Panthers took command of the second set with a 7-1 spurt to take a 15-8 lead. The Aggies responded. A block by Maya Johnson (Austin, Texas) and Shaylynn Hall (Raleigh, N.C.) snapped HPU's hot streak.
After another block by Hall and Brewer and a Sawtelle kill, the Aggies were within four at 15 -11. However, the Panthers scored the next five points to increase their lead to eight at 19-11. The closest the Aggies got the rest of the way was seven at 24-17. Maggie Salley gave HPU a 2-0 lead by ending the set with a kill.
In the third set, a 12-11 Aggies lead disappeared with an 8-1 rally by the Panthers, who took a 19-13 lead. HPU kept the Aggies at a distance for the remainder of the set, advancing on a Gabrielle Idlebird kill to the championship match. The Panthers will face tournament-host Campbell in the final.
Salley led High Point with 13 kills.
Additional leaders for A&T, including Addy Warfield (Winter Springs, Fla.) posting her second consecutive double-double with a team-high 15 assists and a team-high 12 digs. Andrea Laboy-Rivera (Coamo, Puerto Rico) added eight digs. Hall led the team with four blocks and Johnson added three blocks.
