Women's Volleyball | 10/6/2023 8:07:00 PM

GAME: Hofstra Pride (13-4, 3-3 CAA) at North Carolina A&T Aggies (4-10, 2-4 CAA)
DATE: October 7-8, 2023                                                  
TIME(s): 12 p.m./1 p.m.
LOCATION: Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium)
FLOVOLLEYBALL ANNOUNCERS: Joseph Level (play-by-play); Arlene Mitchell (analyst)
 

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – North Carolina A&T had a heart wrenching weekend at Stony Brook last week. The Aggies had a 2-1 lead on Saturday before losing in five and a 2-0 lead on Sunday before losing in five on Sunday. A&T even had match point in the fourth set before the Seawolves forced a fifth and deciding set. Despite the setbacks, the fight must continue, and it will on Saturday and Sunday against a talented Hofstra Pride team out of Long Island also looking for a little redemption after a recent skid.
 

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The Pride has lost three straight matches, including back-to-back losses to Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) favorite Towson last weekend. Before Hofstra's three-match slide, however, the Pride started the season 13-1. The Pride is especially good away from home, posting a 5-1 road record and an 8-1 record away from its home arena. The Aggies will celebrate Community Day on Saturday.  
 STORYLINES:

• A&T hopes to find some comfort at Moore Gymnasium. The Aggies have only played two matches at home this season. A close match could tilt in the Aggies favor this time because they're in familiar surroundings.
• A&T and Hofstra will meet for the first time. The Aggies have six first-time opponents on their schedule.  
• A&T head coach Hal Clifton has 122 wins in his 13 seasons with A&T, making him second all-time in program history in wins.
• Despite the two losses, the Aggies had some impressive showings over the weekend, starting with junior Maya Johnson tying the program record for total blocks in a match with 11. She joins Steffani Eddins, Tonga LoLeini, Shaylynn Hall as the program's record holder in the statistical category.
• Johnson has now had two matches, where she has recorded double digit blocks. Earlier this season, she posted 10 against Appalachian State in the Appalachian State Black and Gold Classic on Sept. 7. Only one other Aggie can boast of two double-digit block matches in a season and a career and that is Eddins, who did it twice in 2002.
• Kaili Doctor continued the great start to her freshman campaign. On Saturday, she posted a season-best 19 kills with an impressive and efficient .385 hitting percentage. She also had a season-high five digs. On Sunday, she posted 13 kills to post back-to-back double-figure kill matches for the first time in her career. Among players with more than 100 swings, Doctor leads the team in hitting percentage .294.
• Chiara Napoli returned to her double-double ways over the weekend. She had two consecutive double-double matches for the second time this season. She had 41 assists and 11 digs on Saturday, followed by 36 assists and 10 digs on Sunday. She also had a career-high eight blocks on Sunday. Napoli has five double-doubles on the season and 12 for her career.
• Napoli ranks fourth in the conference in assists per set (7.92), and she is tied for second in the league in service aces per set (0.54). Nationally, she ranks 24^th in total aces (28) and 39^th in aces per set.
• Naiya Sawtelle continued to move up the ladder in career kills. Sawtelle had 33 combined kills over the weekend to give her 1,034 for her career. She needs 75 more kills to pass Courteney Pitt and move into second all-time.
• Sawtelle also had two consecutive matches with double doubles over the weekend, bringing her season total to five and her career total to 24. She continues to lead the CAA in kills per set (4.02). She is second in the league in total kills (209). She ranks sixth in the conference in aces per set (0.44). She has recorded double-figure kills in each of her last five matches. The longest streak of her career was nine matches from Sept. 17, 2021-Oct. 9, 2021 during her freshman season.
• Senior defensive specialist/libero Morgan Allen has seen her production increase in conference play. In the 50 non-conference sets she played, Allen averaged 3.20 digs per set. But in the 30 she has played during league play, she is averaging 3.41 digs per set.
• Hofstra had a chance to beat CAA powerhouse Towson last Sunday at home, taking a 2-1 lead over the Tigers before losing a close fourth set. But Towson pulled away in the fifth set to complete the two-match weekend sweep.
• Izadora Stedile led the Tigers on Sunday with 18 kills and 15 digs on 55 swings. She also had four service aces. Stedile leads the team in digs per set (3.02) and is second on the team in kills per set (3.04).
• Clara Bal leads the Tigers in kills per set (3.45) and has an impressive .329 hitting percentage. She had a season-high 20 kills in the Pride's four-set win over Northeastern on Sept. 23. She also had a .429 hitting percentage in the win.

• Emily Mansur leads the Pride. She is in her 10^th season as the head coach of Hofstra after serving as an assistant with the program in 2013. She holds an impressive 177-95 (.651) with Hofstra, including last season's 17-12 mark overall and 14-2 record in conference play. Mansur has led the Pride to two CAA tiles, one in 2014 and the other in 2018.