GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T came up short in its upset efforts on Saturday against four-time defending Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) tournament champion Towson Tigers. Therefore, the Aggies returned to work trying to knock off the No. 1 team in the CAA on Sunday.
But after a terrific first set, Towson took command of the match, beating the Aggies 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-19) at Moore Gymnasium. The Aggies dropped to 8-14 overall and 6-8 in CAA play. Towson still holds the top spot in the conference, improving to 19-5 overall and 12-2 in league play.
Sophomore setter Chiara Napoli led A&T with an outstanding overall effort, posting 30 assists, 15 digs, five blocks, and four blocks. Napoli recorded her 10th double-double of the season and the 17th of her career.
It was an assist from Napoli to freshman Kaili Doctor that gave the Aggies a 23-22 first-set lead. Doctor then followed that kill with a service ace. After a Towson timeout, Irbe Lazda moved the Tigers to within one with a kill. But Napoli gave the Aggies a 1-0 match lead with a kill off a pass from Morgan Allen.
Towson did not let the Aggies momentum take a foothold, however. The Tigers took a 20-9 lead in the second before the Aggies rallied with a 6-1 spurt that was capped by a Samaya Wesson and Naiya Sawtelle block assist and a Sawtelle kill to cut Towson's lead to 21-15. The Aggies got to within four, 22-18, on another Napoli kill. But Erin Brothers got a solo block for the Tigers to reach set point at 24-19 before a Nina Cajic ace tied the set at 1.
The third set did not go well for the Aggies. They hit a negative-.026 compared to Towson's .343. The Tigers also had six team blocks in the set. A&T also faced a big deficit in the fourth set as the Tigers took a 19-10 lead.
Once again, the Aggies found the fortitude to fight back by going on a 7-2 run highlighted by back-to-back kills from Sawtelle and a block assist from Maya Johnson and Napoli. The run forced the Tigers into a timeout as they saw their lead cut to 21-17. But the Tigers scored the next three points to establish match and set point at 24-17.
Napoli earned a kill, followed by assisting Johnson on another block to keep the Aggies in the match. But Cajic's kill improved the Tigers to 5-0 against A&T all-time.
"Today was a tough day for the Aggies," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "We started the day well, battling in a tight set. We held our composure and closed out the set. However, we did not get going in the second set, and Towson just plain flat, out hit us. We were on the defensive side of the set the whole way.
We played some really good points in the third and fourth sets. We weren't in system enough today. It made us scramble too much. But I keep seeing some positive things that we can fix. Towson is very talented and quite experienced. They don't make many errors, and they have a lot of weapons."
Sawtelle had a match-high 13 kills to go along with three blocks. Doctor posted her second straight double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. Madison Sanabria finished with a team-high six blocks. Towson's Aayinde Smith finished with eight kills and eight blocks.
