NEWARK, Del. – After playing the No. 1 volleyball team in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) last weekend, North Carolina A&T faced a tough road test on Saturday against the No. 2 volleyball team in the CAA in the Delaware Blue Hens. 

The Blue Hens got 14 kills and eight digs from Lani Mason, and they hit .405 for the match in a 3-0 win (25-19, 16, 15) over A&T at Bob Carpenter Center. A&T dropped to 8-15 on the season and 6-9 in CAA play. Meanwhile, Delaware clinched a berth in the CAA tournament by improving to 19-4 overall and 12-3 in conference play. 

"I loved how we started sets tonight," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "We jumped out ahead early but then kind of stalled out. Delaware played well and forced us into making a few errors, trying to be precise. I felt like we did a nice job serving but couldn't transition our defense into offense. We competed pretty well but have to play cleaner and faster to come out on top." 

Juniors Maya Johnson and Naiya Sawtelle gave A&T a 7-3 lead in the first set as they teamed on a block from a Gha'Naye Whitfield-Moss attack. But Kirah Johnson tied the match at 10 on a kill before an attack error from Madison Sanabria gave the Blue Hens the lead for good in the set. 

When Madelyn Grunza scored on a kill, forcing an Aggies timeout, the Blue Hens had stretched their lead to 18-14. That lead grew to 23-18 on a Kaili Doctor attack error. A kill from Sanabria cut the Blue Hens lead to four, but kills from Mason and Whitfield-Moss ended the set, giving Delaware a 1-0 lead in the match. 

Back-to-back kills from Sawtelle and Chiara Napoli gave the Aggies a 9-5 lead in the second set. Despite a 7-2 spurt by the Blue Hens to take a 12-11 lead, Doctor tied the set at 12 on a kill. But the Aggies could not recover from a 6-0 Delaware run that put the Blue Hens ahead 18-12. 

Delaware grabbed set point on an A&T ball handling error before Doctor kept A&T alive with a kill. Johnson, however, scored on a kill to give the Blue Hens a 2-0 match lead. The Blue Hens hit .609 in the set, making only one attack error. 

The Aggies did not get off to as fast a start in the third set but did trail by only one, 9-8, on a Doctor service ace. A 7-2 Delaware run started to put some distance between the two teams, with the Blue Hens taking a 16-10 advantage. A&T did get to within four, 18-14, on a Doctor kill, but another Delaware run put the Aggies away. 

Delaware scored the next four points to take an eight-point lead. Another Doctor kill ended the run, but three straight kills from the Blue Hens ended the match. 

Sawtelle's streak of double-figure kill matches ended on Saturday at 13 as she finished with eight kills, five digs and two blocks. Doctor ended the night with seven kills and two blocks. Delaware and A&T play again on Sunday at 3 p.m.