Box Score
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Despite nearly taking a 2-0 lead, the Norfolk State volleyball team was unable to hold down UNC Greensboro in a 3-1 loss Saturday morning to the host team in the Spartan Spiketacular at Fleming Gymnasium.
Similar to the first meeting between the teams at the Spartan Classic to kick off the season, NSU earned the first-set win, 26-24, and had the second set locked up until UNCG came back late to win, 25-22. Big runs in the middle of the third and fourth sets allowed UNCG to take both by 25-15 margins.
The loss dropped NSU to 4-9 on the season, while UNCG improved to 11-3.
Sophomore Ellica Morris again led the Spartans on offense with a match-high 15 kills and eight digs, a day after breaking her previous career high with 21 kills against Gardner-Webb on Friday. Sophomore Charlotte Armstead also reached double digits in kills with 11, while freshman Arielle Knafel and redshirt sophomore Paige Gary-Canty each tallied 13 digs.
Junior Nicole Kessner posted 28 assists as NSU hit just .125 for the match compared to a .283 clip for the host UNCG Spartans. UNCG also had a sizeable edge in blocks, 12-1, and had more digs (57-54) and service aces (8-5).
Ariel Newman and Caley Redden each had 13 kills to lead UNCG, while Newman and Kellie Orewiler had 12 digs each. Olivia Humphries added nine kills and a match-high five blocks.
UNCG earned the first three points of the morning and built a 6-2 lead to begin the first set. Two straight service aces by Gary-Canty helped NSU get back into it, and then a 5-0 run a short time later gave the Spartans a 10-7 lead.
From there, the lead went back and forth, with Morris momentarily putting NSU back on top with a service ace and kill for a 15-14 lead. Another kill by Morris put the Spartans up by two at 20-18, and then a short time later Morris was there again with her fifth kill of the set as NSU took command with a 23-19 edge.
UNCG nearly came away with the first-set win after going on a 5-0 run to go up, 24-23, but NSU rallied and scored the last three points on a kill by Armstead, a service ace by sophomore Kristen Burt and an attack error on UNCG for the final 26-24 margin.
It was much of the same for the second set, as UNCG built a 5-1 lead in the early going. NSU climbed back into the set as Morris laid down a kill for an 11-9 advantage, forcing UNCG to call time after that 6-1 run by the Spartans. A few miscues on the Spartans gave the lead back to UNCG, but NSU got the lead right back and eventually got it up to three at 20-17.
But just as it seemed NSU was heading for the second-set win after Gary-Canty put the Spartans up 21-18, UNCG went on a 5-0 run for a 23-21 lead and ended it a few serves later on a service ace for the 25-22 win. Morris totaled six kills in the second set.
The Spartans reversed fortunes to start the third set, going up, 3-1, and then held that lead until UNCG took the lead back at 6-5 a short time later. Morris put down a kill to get NSU to one at 10-9, but a 6-1 run by UNCG put NSU into a hole at 16-10.
A kill by junior Jasmine Frazier as part of a 4-1 run got NSU to within three at 17-14, but the Spartans were unable to stop the UNCG offense from there and dropped the third set, 25-15.
After Morris opened the fourth set with a kill, the Spartans found themselves down by two at 8-6. A kill by Frazier made it 12-10 UNCG, but from there the wheels fell off for the Spartans, as a 10-2 run by UNCG all but ended the match as NSU eventually fell, 25-15.
