Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – Following some early to mid-season road struggles, the Norfolk State volleyball team continued its torrid play with its fourth win in a row, a 3-0 victory over Bethune-Cookman Sunday afternoon at Joseph Echols Hall.

For the second match in a row, the Spartans defeated a team that finished ahead of them in the MEAC South Division following a 3-0 victory against South Carolina Wednesday. The win improved NSU's mark to 9-14 overall and 3-1 in the MEAC in the third of six straight matches at home.

NSU easily took the first set, 25-12, and had to rally from a deficit in the middle of the second set before winning, 25-18. The Spartans capped the match with a 25-16 win in the third set. The loss dropped Bethune-Cookman to 5-20 overall and 1-3 in the MEAC.

The win marked just the second time in the last 10 years NSU won four matches in a row after accomplishing the feat in 2008. It also put NSU to within two wins of tying the program's all-time Division I record of 11 wins in a season set in 1999.

Redshirt sophomore Paige Gary-Canty led the way with 10 kills on a .381 attack percentage with six digs, while freshman Arielle Knafel and sophomore Ellica Morris totaled seven kills each. Knafel also had nine digs, as did junior Nicole Kessner, who handed out 28 assists. Freshman Noelle Eagles posted 19 digs to again pace the way.

The Wildcats were led by Kaiyana Johnson with six kills, while Jacqueline Woodyear had 15 digs and Alexis Bliese totaled 20 assists.

NSU committed a season-low 11 attack errors and hit .237 for the match, while limiting Bethune-Cookman to a .018 attack percentage with 23 errors. NSU also led in kills, 38-25, digs, 51-49, service aces, 6-3, and blocks, 2-1 for the match.

Following a 3-1 loss to Florida A&M on Oct. 4, NSU has now won 12 sets in a row, all 3-0 sweeps.

A kill by Morris helped NSU jump ahead, 5-2, to start the first set, as NSU set the tone early on for the rest of the match. Bethune-Cookman eventually called timeout when Knafel's kill made it 11-5 Spartans. Some back and forth play ensued, but the Spartans used a 4-0 run to take a commanding 19-9 lead.

Another 4-0 run, capped by two straight attack errors on the Wildcats, pushed the score to 23-11, and two more attack errors on the Wildcats ended the set, 25-12.

The errors continued to haunt the Wildcats as NSU jumped out early, 5-0, to start the second set. NSU called timeout as the Spartans eased up on the pedal, and down 10-8, the Wildcats used a 4-0 run a short time later to take a 14-13 lead.

NSU did not lie down, though, going on a 6-1 run to turn things right around at 19-15, with Morris' service ace putting an exclamation point at the end of the run. The Wildcats were unable to string together two straight points for the rest of the set, as back-to-back kills by Gary-Canty and Morris ended the set, 25-18.

Neither team got ahead to start the third set until four straight points by the Wildcats made it 7-4 Bethune-Cookman. Right on cue, NSU countered with its own 4-0 run, thanks in part to a kill and service ace by Kessner.

Two straight kills by Gary-Canty, her second and third kills during a five-serve stretch, made it 13-10 NSU, and after Bethune-Cookman got to within one at 15-14, Morris and Knafel tallied back-to-back kills to force a Wildcat timeout.

A kill by junior Jasmine Frazier ended a greater 7-1 run that made it 22-15, and Michigan native and sophomore Chynna Blaker scored the last two points of the match – in front of her parents no less – to end the set, 25-16. Eagles tallied 11 digs as the teams combined for 51 in the third set alone.

The Spartans continue their homestand against James Madison Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Gill Gymnasium in a match that will serve as NSU's breast cancer awareness night.