WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – North Carolina A&T volleyball added another road win to its collection on Friday night as the Aggies won three straight thrilling sets over the William & Mary Tribe (29-27, 25-21, 26-24) at Kaplan Arena. The Aggies have won four out of their last five to improve to 8-12 overall and 6-6 in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA). William & Mary lost for the third time in four matches, dropping to 12-10 overall and 7-5 in CAA play.
A&T had another fantastic showing at the net, registering 11 team blocks, giving the Aggies 94 in their last eight contests. Junior Naiya Sawtelle registered double-figure kills for the 11th straight match, finishing with 17 kills, five digs, and four blocks. Freshman Samaya Wesson led the Aggies with eight blocks, all coming from block assists. Fellow freshman Kaili Doctor ended her night with 14 kills, a season-high eight digs and three blocks.
"Tonight was a very exciting road win against a very solid William & Mary volleyball team," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "I'm very happy for our team, and I felt like we competed at a high level. I felt we did a very nice job serving and passing overall."
The Aggies had to go beyond the 25-point threshold to win two of three sets. An attack error and a kill from William & Mary's Eleanor Stothoff gave the Tribe set point at 24-22 in the first set. Junior Hannah Howell kept the Aggies from dropping the set with a kill before a ball handling error by Amy Schwem tied the set at 24. The advantage went to A&T after a Sawtelle kill, but the Tribe tied things at 25-25 with a kill from Sabrina Malcolm.
Advantage swung in A&T's favor again on another Sawtelle kill before Katherine Arnason tied the set again. The two teams continued to go kill for kill as Doctor put the Aggies on the brink of winning again with a kill before the Tribe answered again; this time Sarah Callender provided the kill. The Aggies finally won the set with a Sawtelle kill and a Chiara Napoli service ace. There were 13 ties and six lead changes before the Aggies claimed a 1-0 lead in the match.
Set No. 2 was not as lengthy. A&T took control of the set with a 4-0 run that culminated with a Doctor kill to give the Aggies a 22-18 lead. A Callender attack error gave the Aggies set point at 24-19. But the Tribe scored two straight points before another Callender attack error gave the Aggies a 2-0 match lead.
William & Mary tried to extend the match in the third, taking a 20-16 lead. But the Aggies rallied, forcing the Tribe to call timeout after a 7-2 spurt ended with four straight A&T points that included a block assist from Wesson and Sawtelle, a kill from Wesson, an ace from Sawtelle and an attack error from Taylor Burrell that gave the Aggies a 23-22 lead.
A&T captured set and match point on a block assist from Wesson and Doctor put the Aggies in front 24-23. An attack error from Napoli tied the match at 24 before a Doctor kill followed by a Madison Sanabria kill ended the night with an A&T victory. Napoli closed out the evening with a three-set career-high 39 assists. Burrell led the Tribe with 10 kills.
"I'm extremely proud of how we maintained our composure at the end of sets," Clifton said. "Being able to come back in the third set was tremendous."
