Carolina Classic

Friday	NSU at South Carolina	10 a.m.	Live Stats	Live Video (SEC Network+)	Live Audio
	NSU vs. The Citadel	4 p.m.	Live Stats
Saturday	NSU vs. Eastern Kentucky	11 a.m.	Live Stats

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team will take part in one last non-conference tournament this weekend when the Spartans head to South Carolina to compete in the Carolina Classic at the Volleyball Competition Facility.

NSU will take on host South Carolina on Friday at 10 a.m., followed by a match against the Citadel later in the day at 4 p.m. Then on Saturday, the Spartans will face their last non-conference foe of the year against Eastern Kentucky at 11 a.m.

The contest against the Gamecocks will be broadcast on the SEC Network+ digital platform. It is available free of charge on mobile devices, tablets and computers to those who have cable or satellite providers that carry the SEC Network channel and allow access to ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

Live stats will be available for all three matches. Click in the table at the top of the page or go to South Carolina's tournament central page for the links to all six matches at the tournament. Fans can also listen to an audio broadcast of the NSU-South Carolina match through Gamecocks All-Access. The audio broadcast does require a monthly subscription fee.

The Spartans are searching for their first win of the season after dropping to 0-9 following a loss to Duquesne to wrap up last week's Panther Classic at Pittsburgh.

All-Tournament Selections
Freshman Hope Forsythe was named to the JMU Classic All-Tournament team in the first week of the season. Freshman Clarke Tyler garnered East Carolina Invitational All-Tournament honors in week 2, while junior Jessica Johnson did the same in week 3 at the Panther Classic at Pittsburgh.
 
MEAC Rankings
Junior Darcy Moore ranks fourth in the MEAC in assists at 9.10 and second in service aces at 0.32. Other players who rank in the top 10 include Johnson (7^th in kills, 3.26; 9^th in points, 3.50), Tyler (7^th in hitting percentage, .257) and senior Kylee Thiim (9^th in blocks, 0.76).
 
As a team the Spartans rank fourth in assists (11.26) and kills (11.87), sixth in hitting percentage (.134), seventh in service aces (1.13), eighth in digs (12.58) and ninth in opponent hitting percentage (.249) and blocks (1.23).
 
Nationally, NSU ranks highest in assists per set at 196^th in the country. Only Johnson is ranked nationally among individual players (263^rd with 3.50 points per set).
 
Record Holders
Moore is NSU's record holder for single-match (56) and single-season (1,026) assists and is also 204 assists away from breaking Nicole Kessner's career total of 2,424.
 
Senior Noelle Eagles is NSU's single-match (33), single-season (457) and career record holder (1,427) for digs. She is the only NSU player ever to top 1,000 career digs. She ranks 21^st in NCAA Division I in career digs.
 
Other career NSU top-10 rankings include Eagles in sets played (5^th, 377) and matches played (7^th, 101); senior Adriana Ramos in digs (7^th, 643), matches played (9^th, 97) and sets played (9^th, 358); Johnson in kills (8^th, 549) and attacks (9^th, 1,589); and senior Jasmin Flowers in block assists (8^th, 105).
 
About the Opponents
South Carolina stands 7-2 on the year, with its only blemishes on the year against Furman and Clemson. The Gamecocks bring a strong defense, averaging 16.2 digs and 2.8 blocks per set as a team. Mikael Christiaansen (4.30 digs) and Darian Dozier (1.73 blocks) are the leaders in their respective categories. Taylr McNeil leads South Carolina offensively with 3.58 kills, with KoKo Atoa-Williams second on the team with 2.76 kills per set.
 
After starting off the year 6-1, Eastern Kentucky has dropped four of its last six matches to fall to 8-5 on the year. Alexis Plagens leads all players with 3.53 kills per set, with Rachel Vick (2.47 kills) and Celina Sanks (2.33) also contributing on a regular basis thanks to setter Abbey Cvelbar (10.42 assists). On defense, Dena Ott averages 4.53 digs, while Ciera Koons tallies 0.79 blocks for a team that only averages 1.33 blocks per set.
 
The Citadel owns a 4-7 record on the year, including wins over MEAC squads South Carolina State in five sets and Savannah State and North Carolina A&T in four. Bailey Kernodle and Moriah Smith average 2.36 and 2.31 kills per set, respectively, for a team that averages almost 11 kills per set. Amanda Rudnik paces the way on defense with 3.67 digs, with Lauren Hurt at 0.59 blocks per set.
 
Up Next
NSU dives into conference play beginning with a road contest against rival Hampton on Sept. 26.