BOONE, NC – A few of these five-set setbacks may become beneficial for the battle-tested North Carolina A&T Aggies volleyball team once Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play begins. The Aggies lost their fourth straight to drop to 1-5 on the season after losing to Appalachian State 3-2 (21-25, 26-24, 25-14, 23-25, 16-14) during the opening night of the Appalachian State Black and Gold Classic at Holmes Convention Center on Thursday.
Thursday marked the third time the Aggies (1-5) lost a five-setter, and these five-set losses have come against great competition. The Aggies lost in five to the 5-1 Southern Illinois Salukis on Sept. 1. A few hours later the same day, the Aggies lost to the 5-3 Charleston Southern Buccaneers. App State improved to 7-0 after beating A&T.
Sophomore setter Chiara Napoli continued her blazing start to the season. For the third time in the short six-match season, Napoli exceeded her career high in assists. She had 46 on Thursday, marking the second time in three matches she has recorded more than 40 assists. She added 17 digs to post her third double-double of the season and the 10th of her young career. Napoli also posted a career-high six blocks, with all six coming on block assists.
A block assist from Napoli and Maya Johnson tied the fifth set at 12. Johnson's teamwork with Napoli marked one of her 10 blocks on Thursday, making her the fifth player in program history to record 10 blocks in a match. Johnson missed breaking the program's single-match record by two blocks held by three Aggies.
A&T took the lead on an attack error before App State's Maya Winterhoff and Lulu Ambrose teamed on a block assist to tie the set at 13. A Naiya Sawtelle attack error led to an Aggies timeout after the Mountaineers captured the match and set point at 14-13. Off an assist from Napoli, Sawtelle recovered with a kill to tie the match at 14 before a Winterhoff kill, followed by a McCall Denny kill, gave the Mountaineers the match. There were an incredible 34 ties and 14 lead changes in the match.
"It was quite the battle on the court," said A&T head coach Hal Clifton. "Unfortunately, we came up short, but we played well. It literally came down to a few touches here and there. We make a couple of plays, and we win this match."
Sawtelle recorded a match-high 63 total attacks and used them to finish with a match-high 25 kills. Sawtelle added 13 digs to record her first double-double of the season and the 20th of her career. Sawtelle moved into sixth place all-time in program history in kills and needs 20 kills to pass Darlene Mitchell's 945 career kills for fifth place all-time.
Junior Hannah Howell added 13 kills on a .226 hitting percentage. Howell's back-to-back kills in the first set gave the Aggies the set and a 1-0 lead. Howell had seven kills and only one attack error in 10 attempts in the set to post a .600 hitting percentage.
The Aggies fought hard to take a 2-0 as Howell's kill tied the set at 22-22. App State reclaimed the lead on a kill before an attack error tied the match again. Denny gave the Mountaineers set point on a kill, but Howell kept the Aggies alive on a kill. But Denny returned with another kill and Lauren Pledger tied the match at 1-1 with a kill to end the second set.
A&T hit .032 in the third set versus App State's .433 hitting percentage as the Mountaineers took the set easily before the Aggies rebounded to win the fourth set to force the fifth and deciding set. Sawtelle aided the Aggies in the fourth with eight kills on a .583 hitting percentage, while Johnson posted three blocks in the set.
Denny led the Mountaineers with a 13-kill, 15-dig double-double, and Lulu Ambrose added a team-high 15 kills.
