GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T and Campbell went at each other in an aggressive match of big swings and powerful blocks that the Camels won 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-7) in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) volleyball action at Moore Gymnasium on Saturday. The two teams combined for 299 attacks, 31 team blocks and 19 service aces. 

Freshman Kaili Doctor led the Aggies with 16 kills and five digs. Junior Naiya Sawtelle finished with 15 kills, eight digs and four aces. The Aggies block party was led by juniors Maya Johnson and Madison Sanabria. Johnson finished with eight blocks and seven blocks and Sanabria ended the afternoon with seven kills and seven blocks. 

"I thought we played a very good match today," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "We just came up a bit short. We made some adjustments defensively that slowed their offense down a little." 

A&T dropped to 8-17 overall and 6-11 in CAA play. The Camels improved to 15-12 overall and 12-5 in league play. But in totality, the Aggies had a great chance to win each of the first four sets versus the Camels on Saturday. 

In the first set, the Aggies scored four straight points to tie the set at 21-21, thanks to a block assist from sophomore Chiara Napoli and freshman Samaya Wesson. That spurt by A&T led to a back-and-forth between the two teams as an attack error from Doctor gave the Camels a 24-22 lead. 

But a Camels service error and an ace from Napoli tied the match at 24 before a kill from Gwen Wolkow put the Camels ahead 25-24. Doctor tied the match at 25 on a kill, but a kill from Emily Campe and another from Wolkow gave the Camels a 1-0 match lead. 

Two aces and a kill from Sawtelle in the second set were part of a 6-0 spurt by the Aggies, giving A&T a 21-17 lead. But the Camels had a response, outscoring the Aggies 5-1 to tie the set at 22. The Aggies reclaimed the lead on a Doctor kill before a Napoli service error tied the set at 23-23 before Johson's kill, and Chloe Cook's attack error helped the Aggies tie the match at 1. 

The third set may have been the most disappointing for the Aggies as they jumped out to a 15-5 lead on a solo block from Johnson. The Camels took the lead on a surprising 13-0 run. The Aggies did fight back to tie the match at 22. But a block assist from Wolkow and Aley Clent and a kill from Wolkow gave the Camels set point. After a Camels service error, Campe won the set for Campbell with a kill. 

But the Aggies recuperated. The Aggies scored four straight points in the fourth set on a Napoli kill, a Sawtelle kill, and two consecutive Campe attack errors as the Aggies captured a 22-20 lead. Campbell scored the next two points before three straight points, culminating in a Sanabria solo block to tie the match at 2-2. 

Unfortunately, the fifth set was not as much of a nail-biter. Campbell took a 10-4 lead, forcing A&T to call timeout. The Aggies responded after the timeout with a kill from Sawtelle and a block assist from Sanabria and Napoli. But the Camels ended the set and the match on a 5-1 run. 

"We served tough," said Clifton. "A little high error, but you have to be aggressive against a good team. We were able to spread the ball around a bit more today using our middles and right side. I felt like we competed well overall." 

Napoli added 36 assists, seven digs, six blocks, five kills and four aces. Wesson had six blocks. Wolkow led the Camels with 17 kills, nine digs and three blocks. The two teams will play again on Sunday at 2 p.m. A&T will celebrate Senior Day before the match, honoring Morgan Allen, Sawtelle, Liselotte Spoormakers and Arie Walker.