Box Score
HAMPTON, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team is starting to get the hang of making a comeback.
Down 2-1 despite taking the first set, the Spartans used a dominating fourth set and a late run in the fifth to down Hampton, 3-2, Tuesday night at Holland Hall. The win improved NSU's record to 3-2 and kept the Pirates winless at 0-5.
NSU won the first set, 25-23, before Hampton came back with a vengeance to win the second, 25-18. The Spartans held on for dear life in the third before the Pirates finally won, 29-27, but NSU overwhelmed Hampton in the fourth set, 25-14 before taking the fifth and deciding set, 15-10.
Redshirt sophomore Paige Gary-Canty led all players with 16 kills, including several during key runs for the Spartans, to go along with 13 digs. Freshman Arielle Knafel also posted a double-double with 12 kills and 16 digs and added eight service aces, while freshman Noelle Eagles led all players with 19 digs.
Junior Nicole Kessner posted 38 assists to direct the offense. NSU hit .119 in the match compared to .106 for Hampton and held a 14-6 advantage in service aces over the Pirates.
Aaryn Harrison led Hampton with 14 kills, and Sheileen Pagan was one of three players to post double-digit digs with 15. Lina Cordoba added nine blocks in the defensive effort.
Knafel laid down the first point of the match on a quick kill, but neither team got an advantage early on until Knafel helped NSU score five points in a six-serve span, knocking down two kills along with back-to-back service aces to make it 11-8 NSU.
Sophomore Charlotte Armstead knocked down two straight kills to get the lead to four at 13-9, but Hampton scored the next four points to tie the set up at 13-all. Junior Jasmine Frazier had a pair of blocks to help NSU get the lead back, and a quick kill by Kessner got the Spartan lead to two at 19-17.
Frazier put a ball down just out of reach of a Hampton defender for a 23-22 lead, and after the Pirates called a timeout then scored the next point, a service error on Hampton and a service ace by Eagles ended the set, 25-23.
An 8-1 Hampton lead to begin the second set proved to be too big of a deficit to overcome for NSU. Armstead and Frazier posted back-to-back kills to cut into Hampton's lead at 19-13. Knafel knocked down a kill off a block error on Hampton, had a service ace then watched as Frazier put down a quick kill to get NSU back into the set at 21-17.
Hampton then quickly ended the set and scored four of the next five points for the 25-18 second-set win.
NSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to an unblockable kill by Knafel and a service ace from Gary-Canty. The Spartan offense struggled for a short while before Frazier finally landed a kill to break a 7-7 tie. NSU, down 9-8 a short time later, went on a 5-0 run with three kills from Gary-Canty mixed in for a 13-9 lead.
The Pirates responded, using a 6-2 run to tie the set at 15-15. Knafel got NSU back up front with a kill and service ace during a 4-1 NSU run that brought the score to 19-16.
From there, though, Hampton took control of the set and used five straight points to push NSU to the edge. The Spartans held off set-point six different times thanks to a pair of kills from sophomore Maatra Henderson and several Hampton errors, but the Pirates finally ended the set at 29-27 with back-to-back kills from Petra Parros.
With their backs against the wall, NSU dug deep and found some offense in the fourth set, attacking at a .500 clip after hitting in the negative the previous two sets.
A 4-2 Hampton lead in the fourth set was as close as the Pirates got to putting the match away, as NSU scored the next four points, the last three on a pair of Knafel kills and a block with Armstead for a 6-4 lead.
After Hampton made it 6-5, a 10-0 run by NSU ended any shot of the Pirates ending the match early. Gary-Canty had three kills in the late part of the run as the Spartans built a 16-5 advantage. The Pirates got no closer than eight the rest of the way. Knafel added two straight service aces and Gary-Canty hit her seventh kill of the set to finish off Set 4, 25-14.
Hampton rebounded early in the third, taking a 4-2 lead before the Spartans responded to score four straight points and six out of seven for a 9-6 lead, helped by three kills off the hands of Gary-Canty.
Hampton called a timeout down 10-7, then came back out and scored the next two points to cut the deficit to one at 10-9. Frazier earned hero status from there, putting a kill down just inside the back line then service up three straight service aces for a 14-9 lead. Hampton scored the next point but that was it as Henderson's kill ended the match, 15-10.
The Spartans head out to the Radford Invitational this weekend, beginning with a match against the host Highlanders Friday at 5 p.m.
