Friday
NSU vs. Howard, 7 p.m., Gill Gymnasium
Live Stats | Live Video

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team will wrap up the home portion of its 2013 schedule this Friday as the Spartans host Howard for Senior Night at 7 p.m.

The contest against the Bison will take place inside Gill Gymnasium due to homecoming activities occupying Joseph Echols Hall this weekend.

The program will honor its two seniors, Goda Jankauskaite and Coralie Jarema, prior to the start of Friday's match. It will also mark a key matchup for NSU in the Northern Division standings, with the Spartans currently in a tie for third place with Coppin State and Morgan State at 5-4.

Live stats and a live video feed will be available for the matchup with Howard. Cost of the live video feed is $5.

The Spartans will also play their last non-conference match of the year next Tuesday at American University. The contest against the Eagles will begin at 7 p.m., and both live stats and live video will be available through American's website.

Senior Profile
NSU's two seniors arrived on campus as juniors in 2012 and quickly established themselves as key contributors, especially on the defensive end. Jankauskaite and Jarema both broke the school record for block assists and finished in the top 7 all-time in total blocks. Jankauskaite finished with 1.68 kills per set, with Jarema adding 1.42.

Following the loss of a pair of senior hitters from the 2012 team, Jankauskaite and Jarema have established themselves this year as two of NSU's most important offensive weapons. Jankauskaite has posted 3.00 kills per set and could very well finish with more kills in a season than any other Spartan player outside Charlotte Armstead.

Jarema averages 1.84 kills and has come on strong as of late, reaching double digits in kills in five of the last six matches and hitting better than .350 in four of the last six. She had a career-high 18 kills at Coppin State last weekend, while Jankauskaite is coming off back-to-back 20-plus kill performances.

MEAC Update
Morgan State, Coppin State and Norfolk State all finish out the conference season against the three same teams, Howard, UMES and Delaware State. The Spartans hold the edge in case of a three-way tie with Morgan State and Coppin State as well as the tiebreaker with just Morgan State. By virtue of Coppin State's victory over Hampton, the Eagles would have the advantage in case of a tie in the standings with NSU.

Hampton (7-2) and Howard (6-2) stand 1-2 in the Northern Division, with UMES (2-6) and Delaware State (0-8) at the bottom. Only the top four teams in the division advance to the MEAC tournament.

Jankauskaite currently ranks in a tie for sixth in the MEAC stats with 3.00 kills per set as well as eighth in points (3.30). Sophomore Darcy Moore (9.26 assists) and redshirt junior Noelle Eagles (3.74 digs) stand third and fifth, respectively, in those categories.

As a team, NSU ranks fourth in assists (10.64), kills (11.20) and service aces (1.53), fifth in opponent hitting percentage (.217), seventh in hitting percentage (.128) and digs (12.24), and 11th in blocks (1.22).

Scouting the Spartans
The Spartans are led by Jankauskaite, with sophomore Jessica Johnson second on the team with 2.17 kills. Jarema ranks third in total kills with 162 while averaging 1.84 per set. Sophomore Janay Frazier, with 1.86 kills has also served as one of NSU's better hitters on the year.

Moore has posted 9.26 assists and is just 80 total assists away from tying her NSU single-season mark set last year. Junior Adriana Ramos is tops among all players with 0.29 service aces.

Eagles, at 3.74 digs, and Moore, with 2.13 digs per set this year, have been the top backcourt defenders. Jarema leads the Spartans with 45 total blocks.

About Howard
The Bison won the previous meeting with NSU, 3-1, on Oct. 11 in Washington, D.C. Their only two losses in conference play came against Hampton and Morgan State. Howard owns an 18-8 overall record this year.

Katherine Broussard leads the way with 3.35 kills per set, followed by Assata Conway (2.49) and Meagan Lagerlef (1.76). Setter Stephanie Shultis ranks second in the MEAC with 9.77 assists to go along with a team-best 0.45 service aces.

Defensively, Allyson Lods has posted 4.11 digs per set, with Broussard second at 2.76. Conway is the team's top defender at the net with 1.01 blocks per set.

Next Weekend
NSU will close out the regular season at UMES and Delaware State. The Spartans play the Hawks on Nov. 7 followed by a trip to Delaware State on Nov. 10.