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NORFOLK, Va. – After a late collapse, Hampton won a wild fourth set and took home the match win over the Norfolk State volleyball team, 3-1, Wednesday evening at Joseph Echols Hall.

Down 24-18 in that fourth set, NSU (4-9, 0-1 MEAC) won six straight points and forced the set to go into extra points. In front of more than 180 people, the Spartans held off Hampton several times but were unable to finish things before the Pirates finally won, 30-28.

Hampton (4-7, 1-0) held a 2-1 lead in the match after NSU won the first set, 25-14, and the Pirates won the next two, 25-18, 25-22. As was the case on Tuesday against North Carolina A&T, NSU shot itself in the foot again and again, committing 34 attack errors while hitting .118.

Junior Beatriz Ferreira had a team-high 16 kills with 11 digs, while freshman Adriana Ramos and junior Charlotte Armstead added 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Junior Kristen Burt also posted a double-double with 45 assists and 19 digs, while senior Tracey Copley had 27 digs, just three off the school record.

The Pirates were led by Krista Kraskura with 16 kills, 18 digs and five blocks, and Sheileen Pagan with 30 digs. Lihi Elkayam had 36 assists setting up an offense that hit .161 for the night. Hampton held an 11-5 edge in blocks over NSU, led by Petra Parros with seven.

NSU had to battle back in the fourth set, falling behind by a 6-2 score and then later again at 15-9. Elkayam pushed the lead to seven at 21-14, but then with Hampton up at 24-18, Ferreira hit three kills and Armstead added a pair during that 6-0 run. Ferreira twice kept NSU alive in extra points, and then Ramos made it 27-26 in favor of the Spartans with a kill. After Hampton took the lead back, Ramos tied it up one last time before the Pirates finally ended the match.

NSU started off on fire and was in complete control as the match got underway, building a 7-4 lead off a kill from Ramos, and then stretching it to 13-5 on a 6-0 run. Ramos had three service aces during that span. From there, the teams traded points over the next 15 serves, but Burt added a kill and a service ace during a 5-0 run to end the set.

Hampton got its blocking going in Set 2, denying four NSU attacks in a five-serve span to take a 6-1 lead. This time, Hampton earned the 13-5 lead before a short 4-1 run got NSU to five, 16-11. The Spartans called timeout down 19-11, and got to 20-16 following an error on Elkayam. Hampton, though, won five of the last seven points of the set.

The Spartans again fell behind in the third set, 7-3, but NSU chipped away at the lead, as a kill by Ferreira got the Spartans within one, 11-10. NSU called timeout when Hampton won the next three points, but then NSU grabbed all the momentum with a 7-0 run, capped by a kill from Ferreira, for a 17-14 lead. An extended 10-3 run by Hampton put NSU in a hole, 24-20, that the Spartans were unable to dig out of, forcing the fourth and eventual deciding set.

Junior Paige Gary-Canty chipped in with 13 digs, while Armstead had four blocks. Ramos nearly joined Burt and Ferreira with a double-double, posting nine digs along with her double-digit kills.

The Spartans will return to Echols Hall Friday against Coppin State at 6 p.m.