DAVIDSON, N.C. – North Carolina A&T opened the Wildcat Invitational with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-22) loss to tournament host Davidson Thursday night in John M. Belk Arena to snap a three-match winning streak.

Freshman Chiara Napoli (Saint-Raphael, France) ended the match with a team-high 11 digs and a team-high nine assists. Sophomore Hannah Howell (St. Louis Park, Minn.) led the team with a match-high nine kills. Napoli also added four kills and two blocks.

A&T rallied early with a 4-0 run to take an 8-7 lead behind two Wildcat attack errors and a ball-handling error in the first set. Sophomore Maya Johson (Austin, Texas) threw in a kill to complete the run. From there, the two teams traded off points as an Isabel Decker attack error pulled the Aggies to within two at 17-15. 

But the Wildcats took control of the set with a 5-0 capped by a Jackie Bardin kill. The Aggies fought back with three Howell kills during a 6-1 spurt that brought the Aggies back to within two, 23-21. Howell also teamed with Mallory Porcher (Orlando, Fla.) for a block assist during the run.  

After Anela Davis gave the Wildcats set point with a kill, Davidson committed a service error. But the set ended when Jessie Doyal and Decker assisted each other on a block. 

A Liselott Spoormakers (Del Mortel, Netherlands) gave the Aggies a 6-3 lead in the second. But Davidson scored 10 straight points to take a 13-6 lead. Davidson captured its biggest lead of the set on Julia Black kill, giving the Wildcats set point at 24-12. After a Wildcat service error, Kayla Davis gave the Wildcats a 2-0 match lead with a kill.  

The Aggies opened the final set up 17-12, but Davidson scored the next four points to cut the lead to 17-16, forcing an A&T timeout. After the timeout, a block by Madison Sanabria and back-to-back Hannah Howell kills a solo block from Madison Sanabria comprised a 3-1 run for the Aggies to increase their lead to 20-17, forcing a Davidson timeout.

Davidson scored the first three points out of the timeout to tie the set at 20. But a Howell kill and an Emma Slusser attack error gave A&T a 22-20 lead. But the Wildcats offense closed things out as they scored on four kills during a 5-0 spurt to win the match and the set. 

Slusser and Jackie Bardin each recorded eight kills to lead Davidson. Bella Brady recorded a match-high 16 digs.

Johnson led A&T with four blocks, and senior Addy Warfield (Winter Springs, Fla.) added eight assists and six digs.