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USF's Naiya Sawtelle playing in honor of fallen teammate

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Published  November 18, 2024 6:25pm EST
NCAA Sports
FOX 13 News

USF basketball players plays to honor a mentor

Sean Barie reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - Growing up in Florida, Naiya Sawtelle always wanted to play college volleyball at the University of South Florida.

"My brother played football here, and I grew up going to the football games and I loved what USF stood for," the graduate student said. 

Coming out of high school, however, Sawtelle was never extended an offer from the Bulls, and the outside hitter from Stuart chose to take her talents to North Carolina A&T. That itch to return to the Sunshine State never left Sawtelle, and after graduating from North Carolina A&T, she finally got an offer from USF to finish out her volleyball career as a graduate student. 

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"It's everything I wanted and kind of a package with a bow on top," Sawtelle said. 

Even in her first, and last, season with the Bulls, Sawtelle's impact on the team was immediate. 

Pictured: Naiya Sawtelle. 

"You can just see that intense joy in her eyes, and it lights everybody up," said USF's volleyball head coach Jolen Shepardson. "And in a short time, they want to follow her." 

While some may be born with that unique trait, Sawtelle inherited hers from Fatimah Shabazz, a former teammate at North Carolina A&T.

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"With a new program and in a new state, she just really allowed me to flourish," Sawtelle recalled. 

As a freshman with the Aggies, Sawtelle sought out Shabazz, a senior at the time, and learned all she could. 

"She took me under her wing and was a leader that I never had and a friend that I never had," Sawtelle said. 

The two spent the season as mentor and mentee until they reached the semifinals of their conference tournament that season. 

Pictured: Fatimah Shabazz. 

"We were in the middle of a set, and she went up for a block, landed, and was standing at the net. You could tell something was off," Sawtelle recalled. 

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At the time, no one on the court knew how "off" things with Shabazz were. 

"We subbed her out. We all thought it was a migraine, it was the lights, or maybe something [else] happened," Sawtelle remembered thinking at the time. 

Rushed to the hospital during their game, doctors discovered that Shabazz was suffering from a brain aneurism, a diagnosis the senior would die from a few weeks later. 

"Once we got the news that she really was passing, it was really tough, because it was more of the realization that Tee isn't coming home," Sawtelle said. 

With her mentor now gone, Sawtelle faced a decision. She could transfer to another school and leave all the painful memories behind, or she could stay. 

Pictured: Sawtelle's tattoo, showing her former teammate's number with angel wings.

Ultimately, Sawtelle decided to finish her degree at North Carolina A&T in honor of Shabazz before transferring to her dream school, USF, for her last season. 

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"Once I fulfilled my goals there [NCA&T], I knew she would be okay if I left and continued on to be the best person I could be like she always wanted," Sawtelle said. 

That doesn't mean that Sawtelle has forgotten about her former mentor or forgotten the lessons she learned from Shabazz. Before each game, Sawtelle scribbles messages of love in honor of Shabazz on her shoes to go along with a small tattoo on her right wrist that displays Shabazz's number 9 between a pair of angel's wings. 

"I just like to have something there to remind me, and it just gives me peace that she is watching over me," said Sawtelle. 

With the number of games in Sawtelle's collegiate career growing fewer by the day, the grad-transfer still hasn't wavered in her commitment to honor her former teammate and friend. And, she doesn't plan to stop once volleyball is over, either. 

"Every chance I get to talk about her, I love to do that," said Sawtelle. "Getting the tattoo was just a reminder that life is bigger than volleyball, that she was bigger than volleyball, and she is always my angel in heaven."

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