Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Looking dead in the water down 2-0, the Norfolk State volleyball team needed a big spark if the Spartans were going to avoid an upset loss at the hands of UMES on Friday night.

Luckily for NSU, the spark came in the form of outside hitter Janay Frazier. The sophomore tallied a career-high 16 kills and hit a season-best .536 by a Spartan hitter in a 3-2, come-from-behind victory over the Hawks at Joseph Echols Hall.

UMES came out on fire, looking for revenge after the Spartans defeated the Hawks 3-0 earlier in the year. UMES won those first two sets, 25-22 and 25-19, before NSU rolled to a 25-17 win in the third set to stay alive. The Spartans fended off a Hawk comeback with a 25-20 win in the fourth set before pulling away in the fifth, 15-7.

The victory improved NSU's overall record to 8-13 but more importantly kept the Spartans in third place in the MEAC Northern Division at 4-2.

The Spartans came out with much better intensity in the third set, jumping out to an early 12-4 lead. Frazier had seven kills on eight swings in the set, and UMES burned its second timeout down 15-6. NSU called timeout after UMES got to within 17-11, but the Spartans scored three straight and kills from Frazier and senior Coralie Jarema near the end kept the team alive.

Jarema ended the match with 12 kills and hit .219.

It was much the same in the fourth set, as the Spartans again took an early 12-4 lead. Frazier had five kills on seven swings in the fourth, but UMES did not back down, winning six of seven at one point to cut the NSU lead to three, 15-12.

Frazier had four kills over a six-serve span, and after UMES again got to within three at 20-17, the Spartans won four of the next five to pull ahead and force the deciding set.

Four kills from Johnson allowed NSU to take the fifth set, and all of those kills came after UMES had gotten to within one at 5-4. The Spartans used a 7-1 run at that point to put the set out of reach of the Hawks.

Johnson posted 10 kills and 12 digs, with senior Goda Jankauskaite adding 14 kills for an offense that hit .210 for the match.

Lauren Berry and Ashley Smith led UMES with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. The Hawks fell to 2-16 overall and 1-5 in the MEAC.

A pair of runs, 6-1 and 5-1, in the middle of the first set allowed UMES to go up by five. Down 21-15, NSU started a comeback of sorts, winning seven of nine points toward the end to cut the UMES lead to just one, 23-22. A kill from Moriah Brookins and an error on NSU gave UMES the 1-0 lead.

Diara Lewis had nine kills for UMES and five alone in the second set as the Hawks were all over NSU early on, 10-2. The Spartans had an answer, winning six of the next eight, and the Hawks had to burn a timeout after their lead shrank to three, 14-11.

After a short UMES run, NSU again got to within three, but that was as close as the Spartans got before falling into a 2-0 hole.

Redshirt junior Noelle Eagles was one of four players for NSU in double figures in digs with 15. Sophomore Darcy Moore tallied 50 assists and 10 digs as well.

UMES' Jingqiao Li led all players with 22 digs. The Hawks had a 7-3 advantage in blocks.

NSU will head across the water to take on Hampton on Sunday at 3 p.m. at HU's Holland Hall.