BOONE, N.C. – The Norfolk State volleyball team fought back against Loyola (Md.) in the Appalachian Invitational on Saturday morning, rallying from an early two-set deficit before falling in a five-set match, 3-2.

Later in the day, host Appalachian State made quick work of the Spartans in a 3-0 victory at the Holmes Center to cap the first weekend of the season for NSU.

A day after winning their first contest of the year, the Spartans found themselves down 25-22, 25-20, to Loyola. NSU (1-2) came back, winning 25-18 and 25-15 against a Greyhounds squad that later lost to Sam Houston State, the team NSU defeated on Friday.

Backed into a corner, Loyola (1-1) struck back in the fifth set, winning 15-5 to close out the match.

Down three at 10-7 in that third set, NSU was forced to make a comeback to avoid a shutout loss. The Spartans did just that, climbing back and eventually going up by one on a block by senior Coralie Jarema and sophomore Darcy Moore. A little later, freshman Jessica Johnson threw down a pair of kills, and two more from freshman Tori Tulensru and sophomore Goda Jankauskaite helped NSU close out the set by winning seven of the last eight points.

NSU jumped on the Greyhounds in the fourth set, taking an early three-point lead and pushing it to five, 13-8, on a service ace from Jarema. Tulensru and junior Jasmin Flowers combined on a block to give the Spartans their biggest lead of the set, 17-10. Loyola made a comeback, winning six of the next eight points, but NSU's lead was too much for the Greyhounds to fully overcome.

Nevertheless, Loyola was strong in the fifth set, winning 11 of the last 13 points of the set after NSU had gotten to within one, 4-3.

Johnson and Jankauskaite led NSU with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Tulensru had nine kills and five blocks. Flowers finished with six blocks.

Tulensru and redshirt junior libero Noelle Eagles were named to the Appalachian Invitational All-Tournament Team.

NSU, which hit .145 to Loyola's .148, added 15 service aces after tallying 14 in the match on Friday.

Appalachian State (4-0) hit .459 in the last match of the day, finishing with just four attack errors in three sets to defeat NSU, 25-18, 25-11, 25-14.

NSU, meanwhile, hit just .042 despite the play of Tulensru and Jankauskaite. Tulensru led NSU with 10 kills while hitting .231, and Jankauskaite added eight kills on a .278 attack percentage.

The Spartans stayed with Appalachian State early on, but a 5-0 run in the middle of the first set gave the Mountaineers a 15-9 lead. NSU could only get as close as four on a kill by Tulensru the rest of that first stanza.

Appalachian State pulled out to a big early lead in the second set and never looked back. The Spartans turned around and stayed within four points several times in the third set, but the Mountaineers ended the match on a 10-2 run to quickly squash and Spartan hopes of a comeback.

Emily Corrigan had 12 kills, 11 digs and hit .407 to lead Appalachian State.

NSU will head to the Mountaineer Invitational at West Virginia next weekend. The Spartans will play four matches in two days, beginning with Navy on Friday at 4 p.m.