Battle of the Bay
Friday: Hampton at NSU, 6 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Sunday: NSU at Hampton, 3 p.m., Holland Hall
Live Stats (Friday) | Live Video (Friday)
NORFOLK, Va. – Sitting at 3-2 in conference play, an important weekend is on tap for the Norfolk State volleyball team. The Spartans will play Hampton in a home-and-home, Battle of the Bay series while looking to better solidify their spot in the Northern Division standings.
NSU will host the Pirates at Joseph Echols Hall on Friday at 6 p.m. in a “Pack the House” theme-matched, which will also include prizes and giveaways for fans in attendance. The Spartans will make the return trip to Hampton Sunday at 3 p.m.
Currently fourth in the Northern Division, NSU is a game up on Morgan State, which enters the weekend at 2-3 in MEAC play. The Spartans trail third-place Coppin State by half a game (4-2) as well as Hampton (4-1) and league-leading UMES (5-0). NSU owns a 7-18 overall record, while Hampton comes into the weekend sitting at 13-11.
Live stats for NSU's match at home will be available. A live video feed will be available as well.
The two teams have already met this year in the Spartan Invitational Sept. 22 at NSU. Hampton prevailed by a 3-2 score after the Spartans rallied from a 19-5 deficit in the first set. The Pirates won, 23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 15-7.
Freshman Jessica Johnson led NSU with 20 kills against North Carolina A&T in Wednesday's 3-2 win and now sits third on the team with 1.87 kills per set. Senior Beatriz Ferreira ranks second with 2.06 kills, while senior Charlotte Armstead paces the Spartan attack with 3.11 kills on a .229 attack percentage.
Freshman Darcy Moore averages 7.83 assists per set, while redshirt senior Nicole Kessner has posted 4.05 assists, splitting time with Moore at setter, since returning from injury. Johnson has a team-leading 0.31 service aces, with sophomore Adriana Ramos right behind her at 0.30.
Defensively, junior Goda Jankauskaite outpaces everyone with 0.81 blocks, with junior Coralie Jarema second at 0.67. Redshirt sophomore Noelle Eagles had another big game against A&T to bump her digs per set average up to 3.95.
One Record Down, Another Within Reach
With 33 digs against A&T, Eagles broke or tied the school record for digs in a match for the fourth time in her career. She originally set the record with a pair of 30-dig performances her freshman year in 2010. She had 31 in the match against Hampton earlier this year before topping that against the Aggies yesterday. She now owns the top 4 spots in the record book for digs in a match.
She is also just 31 digs away from tying the school's all-time record of 869 set by Kim Mumford from 1992-95.
More Records Could Fall
Armstead is approaching her season record for kills. With 286 so far this year, Armstead is 42 away from tying the mark she set in 2010.
Moore would need 157 more assists to tie Kessner's school record of 877, while Jankauskaite needs 11 more block assists to tie that school mark held by Karina Moore.
One More Record
NSU had 62 assists against the Aggies, topping the previous school best of 61 assists in a match set against William & Mary this year.
Stepping Up
Johnson's 20 kills against A&T marked the first time in 14 matches Armstead did not lead or share the team lead in kills. Johnson was the last player besides Armstead to lead the Spartans in kills when she did so against Washington State on Sept. 14.
About Hampton
The Pirates sit in second in the MEAC after falling in four sets to UMES last weekend. Hampton swept Delaware State and has also defeated Howard and Morgan State (3-0 each) and Coppin State (3-1) this year.
Vendula Strakova and Krista Kraskura continue to lead the Pirates with 4.45 and 3.31 kills and 0.51 and 0.30 service aces per set, respectively. Bibiany Fonseca directs the attack with 9.39 assists. Defensively, Mariah Baylor outpaces her teammates with 1.05 blocks, while Kraskura and Strakova average 2.99 and 2.55 digs per set.
Up Next
Having played five of their first seven conference contests away from home after the Hampton weekend, NSU will finish out the year with four of five matches in Norfolk. The Spartans will host Morgan State for Breast Cancer Awareness Night Oct. 26 and Coppin State on Oct. 28.
