YSU Box Score | UMBC Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. – Down two sets to none, the Norfolk State volleyball team stormed back against Youngstown State, including a dramatic fifth set win, for the 3-2 victory Saturday afternoon at the Maddie Bingaman Memorial Tournament at UMBC.

In the nightcap of the tournament, the host Terriers swept NSU, 3-0.
    
But it was the come-from-behind win in the first match of the day for NSU that had the Spartans looking up.

Searching for their first win of the season, the Spartans looked to be headed for the loss after the Penguins won the first two sets, 28-26, 25-20. NSU took command after that, though, winning the next two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-20 to force the fifth and deciding set.

Youngstown State nearly pulled out the win, going up by a 14-12 score in that last set before NSU survived to win in extra points, 17-15. The Spartans improved to 1-4 on the year, while the Penguins fell to 1-10.

NSU held the advantage in the stats department, with the duo of junior Charlotte Armstead and freshman Adriana Ramos tallying 20 kills each. Armstead hit .533, posting 20 kills and just four errors on 30 swings, in the match. Junior Kristen Burt continued to have a great weekend as well, posting 50 assists, the fourth-highest single-match total in NSU history.

Armstead also earned a place on the all-tournament team following the conclusion of play.

Sophomore Noelle Eagles had a match-high 17 digs, while junior Beatriz Ferreira added 13 kills. The Spartans hit .252 as a team with 63 kills, and held Youngstown State to 56 total kills and a .168 hitting percentage. NSU also had a 51-32 advantage in digs.

Junior Ashley Scott posted seven blocks, as NSU held a 12-10 advantage in blocks over the Penguins. Armstead added six blocks, and senior Jasmine Frazier contributed five kills and four blocks.

The Penguins were led by Missy Hundelt with 19 kills and Jackie Carlisle and Alexis Egler with 13 each. Casey D'Ambrose totaled 49 assists, while Erika West had a team-high 10 digs.

The Spartans hit .333 or better in each of the last three sets, and Armstead added five kills in the fifth set to help NSU rally back. The Spartans went up, 3-0, in the fifth set, helped by a pair of blocks from Armstead and Scott. YSU, though, won seven of the next eight points to take a 7-4 lead. Armstead got NSU back on track, and after the Spartans tied it at 7-7, the teams went back-and-forth over the next 11 serves before an error on NSU put the Penguins within one point of the win, 14-12.

After NSU called timeout, Armstead threw down a kill and two straight errors on YSU put the Spartans in the lead, 15-14. An error on NSU was followed by a Penguin service error and a kill from Ramos for the Spartan victory, 17-15, in the fifth set.

Armstead had four kills during a 7-1 NSU run to open the third set, but YSU eventually cut into the lead, getting to within three at 9-6 and then at two, 12-10. Two blocks by Armstead during a 4-0 run put NSU back in control, 17-11, and then the Spartans turned a four-point lead into a nine-point lead, thanks in part to three YSU attack errors. Ferreira's kill ended the set, 25-17, as NSU grabbed the momentum back from the Penguins after dropping the first two sets.

Burt had 14 assists in the fourth set, which started off with NSU up by a 6-3 score after a Ramos kill. YSU called timeout but the Spartans continued to pour it on, going up by a 9-4 score on a service ace from Scott. Ferreira capped a 3-0 run with a kill to put the Spartans up by seven points, 13-6, and then the Penguins called timeout again after a block by Scott made it 16-9.

The Spartans called timeout after YSU cut the deficit to three, 20-17, but a kill off the hands of Armstead and an attack error on Hundelt ended the set, 25-20, to force the fifth and deciding set.

The start of the match saw NSU fall behind quickly in the first set, but the team came back to go up by a 9-6 score on a kill by Armstead. Four straight points gave the Penguins the lead back, but a back-and-forth first set – which included 21 tie scores and 13 lead changes – continued to ensue. NSU called timeout after the Penguins grabbed the first two-point lead in 26 serves, 22-20. A kill by Ramos and a block by Ramos and Frazier tied things right back up, and then an attack error on D'Ambrose put NSU up, 24-23, following a pair of Penguin timeouts.

After NSU called time down 25-24, Ramos kept the Spartans alive, and another attack error on YSU gave NSU a 26-25 lead. The Penguins used a kill by Hundelt and two straight errors on the Spartans to finally pull out the first set win, 28-26.

Ferreira opened the second set with back-to-back kills, but Youngstown State opened a 9-5 lead before Ramos ended a 7-1 Penguin run. NSU called timeout after a 7-2 run by YSU put the Penguins up, 18-11. Ramos added a pair of kills as NSU won the next four points, but the Spartans got no closer than that three-point margin as the Penguins won, 25-20, for the early 2-0 lead.

Host UMBC wasted little time in taking care of the Spartans in the Saturday evening match, winning 25-18, 25-17, 25-13. The Terriers hit .309 while limiting NSU to a .041 attack percentage, as the Spartans committed 23 attack errors.

Armstead led NSU with nine kills on a .400 attack percentage, while Ramos had six kills and five digs and Ferreira added five kills and five digs. Burt totaled 18 assists, and Eagles posted 15 digs. Hallie Carter led UMBC with 14 kills and 12 digs.

UMBC also held a 10-4 advantage in blocks, although NSU committed just two service errors. UMBC improved to 8-4, while NSU fell to 1-5.

The Terriers took a 5-2 lead in the first set, but a kill by Ramos helped NSU tie things up at 5-all. UMBC stretched the lead up to five at 13-8 prior to an NSU timeout. The Spartans used a 4-0 run, capped by a kill from Armstead, to cut into the Terrier lead, 14-13. But UMBC won six of the next eight points, and NSU got no closer than three points before the Terriers ended the set, 25-18.

After a kill by Armstead tied the second set at 4-4, an 11-1 run by the Terriers gave them a double-digit lead, 15-5. Junior Chynna Blaker added a service ace and a block by Frazier and Scott a little while later made it 20-14. UMBC called timeout, and then held on for the 25-17 second-set win.

The Terriers opened a 5-1 lead and then stretched it to 9-3 before NSU was forced to use a timeout. After Scott landed a service ace to make it 10-6 in favor of the Terriers, UMBC called timeout and then went on an 8-1 run for an 18-7 lead. The Terriers went on to win the set and the match, 25-13.

NSU will head to the Wildcat Classic next weekend at Davidson, beginning with North Carolina A&T on Friday at 4:30 p.m.