Box Score
NORFOLK, Va. – Despite an opening set that saw the Norfolk State volleyball team catch fire, the Spartans were unable to keep the momentum in a 3-1 loss to Davidson Saturday morning in the Spartan Invitational at Joseph Echols Hall.
Taking the first set in dominating fashion, 25-10, NSU fell just short in the second set, 25-23, before Davidson won Sets 3 and 4, 25-14, 25-21.
Sophomore Charlotte Armstead led the way for NSU with 11 kills and three blocks, while freshman Arielle Knafel tallied a match-high 16 digs. Junior Nicole Kessner totaled 22 assists with five kills, while sophomore Ellica Morris added eight digs, seven kills and six service aces.
Sarabeth Peele had 14 kills to lead the Wildcats, while Jennifer Chamblee and Christine Perzinski contributed 14 and 12 digs, respectively. Hayley Lawson had 37 assists to lead the offensive attack.
Davidson hit .206 for the match with 47 kills while limiting NSU to 34 kills and a .061 attack percentage. The Wildcats also held the edge in blocks, 9.5-4.0, while the Spartans had a 10-4 advantage in service aces.
NSU got off to a quick start, building a 5-1 lead thanks to a pair of service aces by Morris and then a kill by sophomore Paige Gary-Canty early in the first set. A 6-2 lead, though, turned into a 6-6 tie after Davidson stormed back.
That was as close as the Wildcats got to taking the first set, as NSU tallied seven straight points, six alone on Davidson attack errors, to go up, 13-6. Two serves later, the Spartans started another 7-0 run that ended all hope for Davidson and put NSU up, 20-7.
A block by Armstead and Knafel on an attack by Davidson's Jorden Benedict ended the set, 25-10. Davidson committed 10 attack errors and hit -.167 for the set.
The Wildcats turned things around early on in the second set, taking a 4-1 lead and extending it to five at 9-4 before NSU called a timeout. The break worked, as the Spartans won the next three points and 8-of-9 after that timeout to go up, 12-10, with Armstead and Gary-Canty teaming up for the block to end the 8-1 run.
Davidson took the lead back at 13-12 with a short 3-0 run, but Morris tied the score with a kill from the middle of the court that deflected off a block. NSU stayed with Davidson but could not get the lead back, although Morris' service ace and a service error by Davidson tied the score twice late in the set, with the latter at 22-22.
A kill by Knafel got NSU to 24-23, but Lawson ended the set with a kill to give the Wildcats the 25-23 win.
Davidson grabbed a 3-1 lead to start the third set, and stretched it to 8-4 before the Spartans called timeout. A kill by junior Jasmine Frazier and a ball handling error on Davidson got NSU to three at 9-6, but a 6-0 run by the Wildcats put NSU in a hole, 15-6.
The Wildcats extended the lead to as much as 12 at 24-12 before a service error on Davidson and a service ace by Frazier made it 24-14. Jordan Benedict tallied the last point of the set off a kill for the final 25-14 margin.
The Spartans stayed close with Davidson in the fourth set, taking a 4-2 lead on a kill by Gary-Canty. That lead dissipated as Davidson won the next four points for a 6-4 lead, but the Spartans continued to fight, eventually tying the score at 9-9 on an attack error on the Wildcats.
Down 12-10, Morris had two service aces as NSU scored the next four points for a 14-12 lead, and the Wildcats called a timeout a short time later down 16-13. The Spartans were forced to call a timeout after Davidson won the lead back at 19-18, then again down 22-19.
Despite getting to one at 22-21 on an attack error by Benedict, NSU was unable to take the set as Davidson won, 25-21, for the match win.
