GAME: Hampton Pirates (0-4, 0-2 CAA) at North Carolina A&T (2-8, 0-2 CAA)
DATE: September 23-24, 2023
TIME(s): 2 p.m./2 p.m.
LOCATION: Greensboro, N.C. (Moore Gymnasium)
FLOVOLLEYBALL ANNOUNCERS: Joseph Level (play-by-play); Arlene Mitchell (analyst)
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The North Carolina A&T volleyball team will try to get their first conference win in their first home match of the season when the Hampton Pirates come to Greensboro before playing the Pirates again on Sunday. The weekend series against the Pirates will be a special, important, albeit mournful one. The A&T volleyball program will recognize Aneurysm Awareness in honor of the late Fatimah Shabazz, who starred at A&T before passing away from a brain aneurysm after a Big South Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament match in 2021.
Shabazz holds a special place in the history of A&T volleyball. She came in with two-time MEAC player of the year, Edie Brewer. She also came in with three-time, first-team All-MEAC selection Courteney Pitt, who is second all-time in school history in kills. Together, the trio helped the Aggies volleyball program achieve heights never seen before in school history. Shabazz made considerable contributions in the spring of 2021. She led the MEAC in kills per set (3.69), ranked fifth in the league in hitting percentage (.336) and ninth in blocks per set (0.64).
That translated into Aggies volleyball winning its first-ever conference tournament championship and advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time. The Aggies also won their first-round game over Rice because of a COVID-19 forfeit. In her career, Shabazz also celebrated two MEAC southern division regular-season championships and the volleyball program's first-ever win over a Power Five school as the Aggies defeated Virginia Tech 3-2 on Sept. 18, 2021.
Individually, she had two career conference player of the week honors, earned first-team All-MEAC during the spring of 2021, and earned the team's volleyball offensive player of the year award at the 2021 Aggie ESPYs. A&T Athletics transitioned to the Big South Conference in 2020, playing its first season in the Big South in 2021. The change of conferences did not stop Shabazz from being a dynamic player.
Shabazz averaged 2.10 kills and 0.66 blocks per set during the 2021 fall season. She helped the Aggies earn their first 20-win season in 16 years, going 20-10 overall and 11-5 in the Big South. The Aggies acquired an at-large bid to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC), the team's second in three seasons. Shabazz played in 284 sets in 89 matches, playing her final match as an Aggie on Nov. 19, 2021. She totaled 710 kills, 183 total blocks, and 169 block assists. She graduated from A&T with a 3.71 grade point average and a degree in pre-law/liberal studies. She was a first-semester graduate student before passing.
STORYLINES:
- The Aggies finally get a chance to play in the comforts of Moore Gymnasium after playing their first 10 matches away from home. The Aggies opening weekend did not go smoothly as they lost two straight three-setters to UNC Wilmington at Hanover Hall in Wilmington, N.C.
- The Aggies welcome the Pirates to Moore after sweeping two from their HBCU rival last season in Hampton, 3-0 and 3-2.
- The Aggies have had their way with Hampton historically. They lead the series 28-3 after last season's two wins. A&T has also won three in a row against the Pirates. A&T head coach Hal Clifton is 4-1 all-time against the Pirates, with the only loss coming on Sept. 23, 2017, in Norfolk, Va.
- Clifton has 120 wins as the A&T head coach as he coaches in his 13th season with the Aggies. Last season marked his first losing season since 2016.
- Naiya Sawtelle enters the weekend needing 31 kills to become the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 in a career. Clifton coached two Aggies in the 1,000-kill club in Brooke Stamnes and Courteney Pitt. The other is the Aggies' all-time leader kills, Arlene Mitchell. Sawtelle is fourth on the all-time kills list.
- Sawtelle leads the CAA in kills at 4.00 per set. She also leads the league in scoring at 4.64 points per game, aided by her 0.44 service aces per set, ranking her ninth in the conference.
- It is hard to tell anything about the Aggies as a team based on last week's performance at UNCW. The Aggies did not seem like themselves. That, coupled with UNCW playing well at home, resulted in two three-set sweeps.
- A&T hit .182 for the weekend, which can be good enough to win a match or two, but UNCW hit .360 for the weekend and outscored the Aggies 22-1 in service aces. That gives credence to the fact that last week was an anomaly.
- The Aggies hope to return to their successful Chiara Napoli/Sawtelle connection. She has toppled her career-high in assists three times this season, including recording over 40 assists in a match twice. The last time she exceeded her career-high in assists came on Sept. 7 when she posted 46 in a five-set loss to App State.
- Napoli has reached her career-high in assists in a three-set match three times this season, with the last occasion coming on Sept. 8 when she had 27 assists against UNCG. Napoli also has three double-doubles this season to give her 10 for her career, and she had a career-best six total blocks against App State.
- The Aggies have been good at Moore Gymnasium lately. The Aggies are 23-14 at Moore since 2019.
- It is hard to figure out where Hampton is as a team. The Pirates have only played four matches, with two coming last week against CAA favorite Towson. The Pirates lost in three to the Tigers last Saturday before losing in four on Sunday. In the Pirates' two non-conference matches, they lost to Quinnipiac and Gardner-Webb in three.
- CAA head coaches picked the Pirates to finish last during the preseason poll after the Pirates finished the 2022 season 3-16 overall and 0-16 in CAA play.
- Junior Madison Clark led the Pirates with 2.29 kills per set against the Tigers last week, but she hit only .014 for the weekend. The Pirates are hitting -.066 as a team.
- Junior Maya Johnson controls things at the net for A&T, averaging 0.83 blocks per set. She had a career-best 10 blocks against App State on Sept. 7, making her the fifth player in program history to record 10 blocks in a match.
