Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Norfolk State volleyball team won its first match of the season and then split the day's contests, downing Navy, 3-1, before falling to Hartford, 3-1, Saturday at the Kristen Dickmann Invitational at Navy's Wesley A. Brown Field House.

The Spartans earned a morning win over Navy, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, before struggling early in the match against Hartford later in the day. The Hawks easily won the first set, 25-6, before hanging on the rest of the match, 25-22, 23-25, 26-24.

Senior Beatriz Ferreira led the Spartans in both matches, tallying 11 kills against the Midshipmen and then 16 versus the Hawks. Senior Charlotte Armstead posted a combined 19 kills in the two matches, while redshirt sophomore Noelle Eagles added 14 and 12 digs, respectively.

Freshman Darcy Moore posted a combined 74 assists, but the Spartans struggled on offense, hitting .092 against Navy and .098 against Hartford. NSU had 62 total attack errors on the day.

Moore and Eagles were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Junior Coralie Jarema had eight blocks with seven kills against the Midshipmen, including three early blocks as the Spartans built a 9-2 lead to start the match. Navy called both of its timeouts for the set during that timeframe, and then used a 5-1 to get to within three.

The Spartans built the lead back up to seven, 19-12, but after Navy cut the deficit to four, 22-18, NSU called timeout to regroup. Ferreira added a kill and then a service error on the Midshipmen that gave NSU the first-set win.

Sophomore Jasmin Flowers threw down a kill to give NSU a 5-1 lead to start the second set, but Navy's 4-0 run a little later tied it up at 10-10. The Spartans grabbed the lead back thanks to another kill and a block from Flowers, and then forced Navy to call timeout up 20-17. An error on the Midshipmen found them down 23-21, but Carolyn Ewert knocked down a pair of kills during a 4-0 run to close the set for Navy.

NSU brushed off the second-set loss and scored the first three points of the third set, and following a 4-1 run by Navy, the Spartans pushed the lead to four, 11-7. Jarema had a block and a service ace to help NSU to an 18-12 lead, and a short time later back-to-back kills from Armstead and Ferreira put the Spartans in a comfortable 22-14 lead they did not relinquish.

In the fourth set, a 6-1 run allowed the Spartans to build a 10-5 lead, but the Midshipmen immediately used a 5-0 run to tie the set at 10-10. NSU had a small lead until a 6-1 run, capped by two service aces from freshman Jessica Johnson, extended that advantage to 22-15. A 6-1 run by the Midshipmen held off NSU for a short while until Ferreira and Jarema ended the match with two straight kills.

Flowers had six kills and five blocks against Navy.

Later in the afternoon, Hartford scored the first five points of the match, never committed an attack error and breezed to a 25-6 win in the first set over the Spartans. NSU, though, turned things around in the second set, building a 6-2 lead and stretching it to six, 11-5, after three straight kills from Ferreira. Later in the set, NSU saw a 15-13 lead quickly disappear thanks to a 7-1 run by the Hawks.

Two more kills from Ferreira kept the Spartans close, but Hartford was too much as the Hawks built a 2-0 lead in the match.

Down 4-2 in the third, a kill from redshirt sophomore Kylee Thiim sparked a 6-1 run to give the Spartans a three-point lead. The Spartans called timeout after Hartford chipped away at the lead and tied the set at 14-14. Jarema posted a pair of service aces and Armstead added two kills to give NSU a 20-17 lead. Johnson then broke a 22-22 tie with a pair of kills to help NSU take the third set.

A kill and block from Armstead gave the Spartans a 7-6 lead in the fourth set, but a 4-0 run by the Hawks gave them the advantage back. Down 17-13, NSU used a 6-0 run to earn the lead back, 19-17. Hartford tied the set at 20-20, and the teams went back and forth until a pair of errors on the Spartans handed the Hawks the match.

Jarema had 10 digs, seven kills and four service aces against Hartford, while Johnson had eight kills and sophomore Adriana Ramos had nine digs after posting 12 against Navy.

NSU will head to the city of Pittsburgh next weekend to play four matches in two days, beginning with Loyola (Md.) and Duquesne on Friday.