Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team looked strong after an early setback, but too many errors prevented the Spartans from completing the comeback in a 3-2 loss to Howard Sunday afternoon at Joseph Echols Hall.

NSU gave points away left and right with 20 service errors as Howard won, 25-21, 21-25, 24-26, 26-24, 25-12. The Spartans saw their record drop to 5-10 overall, 1-2 in the MEAC. The stat sheet did not favor Howard, but the Bison did pick up their second win of the year to go to 2-17, 1-2.

The Spartans hit .160 for the match, led by junior Charlotte Armstead with 17 kills and six blocks. Junior Beatriz Ferreira had 12 kills and seven blocks, as the Spartans posted a season-high 13 team blocks on the afternoon.

Freshman Adriana Ramos added a team-high 14 digs and 11 kills, while senior Jasmine Frazier also reached double digit kills with 10. Junior Kristen Burt had 44 assists, and senior Tracey Copley and junior Paige Gary-Canty posted 11 and 10 digs, respectively.

The Bison were considered the home team for the match, originally scheduled for Washington, D.C., before renovations to Howard's gym forced the move to Norfolk.

Howard was led on the offensive side by Tosin Elebute with 25 kills, as the Bison hit .138 for the match. Both teams had 31 attack errors, while the Bison had 11 service errors. Both Stephanie Schultis and Jasmine King had 21 assists, while Riana Cain led all players with 20 digs.

Elebute also added 16 digs and six blocks. Howard had nine team blocks on the night, and both teams posted 66 digs.

After an hour and a half delay following a mix-up with the officials on the time of the match, Howard took a 7-3 lead thanks to five attack errors on NSU. The Bison got the lead to five before NSU cut it to two, 12-10. A block by Ferreira got the Spartans within one, 14-13, but Howard started to pull away from there. The Bison went up by a 20-15 score, and NSU could get no closer than two points in the first set loss.

The Spartans grabbed a 4-1 lead to start the second set, and Howard was forced to call timeout down 11-6. NSU had to call time when Howard won four straight points to cut the deficit to two, 13-11. A kill by Armstead and two straight by Ferreira made it 16-11, but again Howard came back, using a 7-1 run to take a one-point lead. Ferreira added two more kills after an NSU timeout for a 21-18 lead, and a block by Armstead and Burt gave NSU the 25th point of the set.

Howard called timeout down 6-3 in the third set, tied things up at 6-6, and then went up by a 10-9 score. Thanks to several errors on the Bison, NSU went on a 6-1 run for a 15-11 lead. Howard did not back down, tying it right back up at 16-16, and then going up by a 20-18 score to force an NSU timeout. Tied at 22-22, freshman Jasmin Flowers added two straight kills for a 24-22 lead, and a kill by Frazier and an error on Elebute gave NSU the 2-1 lead following a 26-24 third-set win.

Flowers totaled seven kills on the afternoon.

The Spartans looked to be in control after winning six of the first seven points of the fourth set, including two kills by Armstead and two service aces by Ramos. The Bison got no closer than four points before they used a 3-0 run to cut their deficit to two, 14-12. Down 16-12, Howard used an 11-2 run to essentially put the set out of reach, 23-18.

NSU had none of that, though, as Armstead knocked down three kills during a 6-1 run to tied it up at 24-24. A service error on the Spartans and a block by Shultis kept the Bison alive for the fifth set. Armstead had seven kills in the fourth set alone.

Howard came out on fire in that deciding set, jumping out to an 8-2 lead before the teams switched sides on the court. The switch proved to be useful for NSU, specifically Ferreira, who threw down four kills during a 6-1 run to get the Spartans to within one, 10-9. The teams traded points over the next few serves, but after a kill by Armstead made it 13-12 in favor of the Bison, back-to-back kills by Elebute dashed all NSU hopes.

Despite hitting .320 in the fifth set, NSU could not stop Howard, which posted a .400 attack percentage.

NSU will look to bounce back on its home turf next Friday against Delaware State at 7 p.m. for Breast Cancer Awareness Night.