EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T came into its Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) volleyball match against The Tribe of William & Mary Saturday afternoon at Moore Gymnasium, winless in the conference but far from hopeless.
After playing some of the best competition the CAA has to offer and playing them well, the Aggies finally broke through in the win column thanks to a dominant fifth set in a 3-2 win (21-25, 28-26, 17-25, 25-17, 15-7) over The Tribe.
The win marks the Aggies (5-12, 1-6 CAA) first-ever CAA win and snaps A&T's seven-match losing streak. Sophomore Naiya Sawtelle (Stuart, Fla.) led the way with a career-kills 27 kills on 47 total attacks to post an impressive .383 hitting percentage. She also had 11 digs, six blocks (one solo) and three service aces as she contributed to 33.5 of the Aggies 79 points. Her six blocks ties her career high.
"I've been worked hard the last couple of weeks trying to fine-tune a couple of things that have kind of been issues in games," said Sawtelle, who now has compiled 20-plus kills in five matches this season. "I was trying to play relaxed, have fun, do my job and encourage others. That's the thing. If we all do our job, we will end up winning."
The job certainly got done in the fifth set. Senior Mallory Porcher (Orlando, Fla.) helped the Aggies jump out to a 5-1 lead with two aces. Two terrific block assists followed as Madison Sanabria and Maya Johnson worked together on both rejections to increase A&T's lead to 9-3. What followed was a lightning bolt kill from Sawtelle that seemed to put The Tribe back on its heels.
Sawtelle came through with another kill in the set, and when sophomore Hannah Howell blasted one to the floor, the Aggies had a comfortable 13-5 advantage. William & Mary scored two straight points, but back-to-back attack errors gave the Aggies their historic win.
"We had some good matchups going, and I thought we were aggressive from the end lines in our serving. We got them out of system quick, which kind of made them a little more predictable for our defense to transition," said A&T coach Hal Clifton. "But I think the excitement from our energy and our bench players drove us to a really strong start in that fifth set."
A&T came into the weekend having played two teams in Hofstra and Towson, who are currently 7-0 in league play. In addition, the Aggies had to battle with Piedmont rival Elon. They took a set off of each team during the weekend matchups, including Towson, who had not lost a set in the CAA all season before facing A&T.
On Saturday, The Tribe put together a .370 hitting percentage to take the first set. The Aggies were on the brink of following behind 2-0 until a Sawtelle kill tied the second set at 24. Minutes later, Sawtelle fought off another William & Mary attempt to make it 2-0 when she slammed down a kill to tie the match at 25. The Aggies finally took the set on a Sawtelle kill and ace.
William & Mary had five blocks, and the Aggies had a .079 hitting percentage in the third as The Tribe took a 2-1 lead before the Aggies held The Tribe to a -.032 hitting percentage in the fourth set. Sawtelle added seven kills, five blocks and an ace in the set to lead A&T to the fourth-set win, setting up the Aggies fifth-set heroics.
"I'm proud of how we've competed all season in the CAA," said Clifton. "We had opportunities at Towson. We had opportunities against Elon. Hofstra was a bit of a struggle, but I just knew our time would come if the ladies stayed patient and kept their confidence level up, which is the hardest thing to do. But they pulled through today, and I'm really happy for my young ladies."
Eleanor Stothoff led Tribe with 16 kills and a .257 hitting percentage. Freshman Chiara Napoli and senior Addy Warfield had 24 and 22 assists, respectively. Defensively, Johnson ended her afternoon with a career-high eight blocks, and Sanabria posted four rejections.
