Box Score
NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team showed flashes of brilliance but could not pull out the upset victory against nine-time defending MEAC champion Florida A&M in a 3-1 loss Monday night at Joseph Echols Hall.
In the conference opener for both teams, the Rattlers took the first set, 25-18, and the second set, 25-21, before NSU stormed back to take the third set, 25-21. The Spartans could not sustain that momentum as FAMU won the decisive fourth set, 25-17.
FAMU improved to 2-11 with a 1-0 mark in the MEAC now, while NSU dropped to 5-14 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
Freshman Arielle Knafel had one of her strongest showings of the year with 18 kills on a .227 attack percentage to go along with 11 digs and three blocks, while sophomore Charlotte Armstead totaled 12 kills. Freshman Noelle Eagles had 28 digs, and junior Nicole Kessner handed out 40 assists.
Junior Jasmine Frazier had six blocks as NSU held an 8-5 advantage in team blocks on the night. The Spartans also attacked at a .093 clip with the Rattlers hitting .101. NSU also had a 75-68 edge in digs, while FAMU had eight service aces to just one for the Spartans.
Ashley Johnson and Katherine Huanec led the Rattlers with 10 kills each on the night. Diana Gonzalez posted 30 assists, and Susan Egoavil led the backcourt defense with a team-high 23 digs.
FAMU opened up the match with a 4-0 start to the first set, which NSU whittled down to two points at several occasions, the last at 11-9 after a kill by Knafel. Two straight Rattler attack errors after that tied the score, 11-11, but the Rattlers came back and eventually forced an NSU timeout with the Spartans down, 17-13.
A service error and attack error on FAMU after that timeout got the deficit back down to two at 17-15, but NSU was unable to get any closer as the Rattlers closed the set with an 8-3 run for the 25-18 margin.
Knafel's kill off a block error on FAMU, the first of five in the set for the rookie, opened a 3-0 lead for the Spartans to begin the second set, a lead the team eventually pushed to 7-3 before a FAMU timeout. The Rattlers got the lead down to three, but NSU kept FAMU at bay up through a kill by Armstead that made it 16-13 NSU.
A 4-0 run there, however, gave the Rattlers the lead at 17-16, and the Spartans eventually called a timeout down 20-18 a short time later. A block by Frazier and Knafel following a kill by sophomore Ellica Morris made it 20-20 after that timeout, but FAMU took care of business the rest of the set on the way to a 25-21 win.
The Spartans grabbed an early lead to start the fourth set, 5-1 after Armstead knocked down a kill, and eventually extended it to 10-4 after two straight kills by Armstead and another by Morris. But the Spartans had to call time after FAMU went on a 4-0 run a few serves later to cut the lead to two at 11-9.
Armstead and freshman Mykal Vailu'u teamed up for the block to get the lead back to four at 15-11, and the Rattlers had to call time when NSU took another four-point lead at 19-15 following a FAMU attack error. The Rattlers continuously got the deficit down to two but could not get any closer, and Armstead finally ended the set with the last of her seven kills in the set for the 25-21 win.
The fourth set saw the momentum pendulum swing back and forth as FAMU took a 4-0 lead before NSU won the next five points, the last on a kill by Knafel, for the 5-4 lead. Just like that, though, the Rattlers went on a 5-0 run of their own for a 9-5 lead, forcing NSU to call time.
NSU got as close as three points at several different times in the set, the last at 16-13 when Frazier and Vailu'u were there for the block up front. But NSU called timeout down by five at 18-13, and got no closer than four the rest of the way as the Rattlers took the match with a 25-17 win.
The Spartans will be back on the road Friday at North Carolina A&T at 6 p.m. before hosting Savannah State at Echols Hall next Monday.
