STONY BROOK, NY – North Carolina A&T could not quite get above .500 in the conference on Saturday as the Stony Brook Seawolves rallied to beat the Aggies 3-2 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play at Pritchard Gymnasium.  

It was a breakout match for the reigning CAA rookie of the week, Kaili Doctor. She recorded career highs in kills (19) and digs (5), and posted a .365 hitting percentage. Naiya Sawtelle finished with 17 kills, 13 digs, two blocks and two service aces. Sawtelle, the reigning CAA offensive player of the week, recorded her fourth double-double of the season and the 23rd of her career. She also moved into third on the Aggies all-time kills list with 1,018, passing Brooke Stamnes' 1,017. 

After the two teams split the first two sets, the Aggies claimed a 22-19 lead on an attack error from Abby Campbell. A Doctor service error moved the Seawolves to within two before Sawtelle gave the Aggies their three-point lead back with a kill. Stony Brook called timeout, but the Aggies completed their 3-0 run to end the set as sophomore Chiara Napoli secured a solo block and Leoni Kunz committed an attack error to give the Aggies a 2-1 lead in the match. 

But the Seawolves took a 20-15 in the fourth set in their attempt to force a fifth set. But the Aggies rallied with back-to-back kills from Sawtelle and an ace from Napoli to cut the Seawolves' lead to 20-18. Ava Jackson stopped the run with a kill, followed by kills from Kali Moore and Coleman. 

A&T responded with a 3-0 run capped by a Hannah Howell kill to get the Aggies within two at 23-21. But Campbell gave Seawolves set point with a kill before Doctor kept the Aggies alive with a kill. But Ayanna Pierre Louis' kill forced the fifth set. 

A block assist in the fifth set by Maya Johnson and Napoli gave the Aggies an 8-6 lead. Stony Brook went on an 8-1 spurt from there to take a 14-9 lead. The outburst forced the Aggies to spend two timeouts. But A&T did not go out without swinging. 

Doctor scored on a kill to cut the lead to four before a Madison Sanabria kill, and an ace from Napoli got the Aggies to within two at 14-12. After a Seawolves timeout, the set and the match ended on a kill from Moore.  

"Today was a tough, hard-fought match on the road," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "We competed well but just came up short. I'm proud of how the team competed. We just weren't able to side out quick enough at the end of the fifth set. They went on a run after the changeover, and we didn't recover."

Napoli also recorded a double-double on Saturday with 41 assists and 11 digs. It marked her fourth double-double of the season and the 11th of her career. She also posted three aces and four blocks. Johnson added five kills and eight blocks, including one solo. Morgan Allen also played solid defense for the Aggies, finishing with 16 digs. 

Kunz led Stony Brook with 18 kills and 13 digs, and Moore added 17 kills and 15 digs.