Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Thanks to three sets that went extra points, Norfolk State and Hampton volleyball needed more than two hours and 15 minutes to decide the first Battle of the Bay this year. The Pirates jumped ahead in the fifth set to ultimately come away with the victory, 3-2, over the Spartans at Joseph Echols Hall.
 
Senior Angie Darcus posted a career-best 20 kills with nine digs to lead NSU, which had to overcome an early deficit when Hampton controlled the first set in winning by a 25-19 score. Then each team that won the next three sets had to rally late to force extra points. The Spartans were up first, taking the second set by a 27-25 margin.
 
The Pirates returned the favor in the third set, this time with a winning score of 29-27. Not to be outdone, the Spartans did even better in the fourth, tying the match at 2-2 thanks to a 31-29 win. Hampton, though, jumped out to a huge lead in the fifth, too much of a deficit for NSU to completely overcome in a 15-11 Pirate victory.
 
The loss dropped NSU to 1-16 overall and 0-4 in MEAC play, while Hampton picked up its first victory of the year and went to 1-17 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
 
Reeana Richardson led the Pirates with 21 kills, six digs, three service aces and three blocks. Hampton held a 15-5 edge in blocks and also committed 12 less attack errors while hitting .211 for the match. Brianna Lilly was one of three players for the Pirates with a double-double, tallying 51 assists and 23 digs.
 
The Spartans hit .115 and had just one less kill than Hampton (63-62).
 
The Spartans flipped the hot and cold switch each set, first hitting -.200 in the first stanza as Hampton cruised. NSU called timeout down 10-5 early, and the deficit ballooned to 17-7 before NSU won five of the next six points. The Spartans also won five points within a six-serve span late in the set to get to within five before the Pirates closed it out.
 
It was night and day in the second, as NSU attacked at a .270 clip. Junior Dominique Parker had six kills in the second set alone, part of a 12-kill night in which she hit .235. Senior setter Darcy Moore had four kills in the set, which started off as a tight battle. Hampton led 6-5 on a service ace when NSU got kills from several different players and then a service ace from Darcus for an 11-8 lead.
 
The Pirates eventually tied it up and won five of six serves for an 18-16 lead. NSU called timeout down 21-18, but three kills and a block from Parker ignited the Spartans. NSU was ahead by one and then down by one, but senior Janay Frazier's kill tied it at 24-24. Hampton held off set serve after sophomore Hope Forsythe hit a service ace, but back-to-back kills by Moore and Darcus tied the match at 1-1.
 
Darcus had seven kills in the third set, but NSU hit just .038 with 12 errors, with seven of those coming off Hampton blocks. The Spartans did lead several times early on, but they could not pull too far ahead. Frazier and Darcus each had kills for two-point leads, and then two more kills from Darcus and junior Sydney Dailey made it 17-13.
 
Darcus kept the offense going, and NSU still led by four, 22-18, on a Hampton attack error. The Pirates scored six of the next seven points to force set serve, but a service error on Hampton and a kill by Darcus twice kept NSU from losing the set. The Spartans were up by one, 27-26, on another Pirate error, but Hampton got a pair of blocks and a kill, all from Kyndall Nicholas, to go up by a 2-1 score in the match.
 
But once again, Norfolk State had the answer. NSU hit .349 in the fourth set with 20 kills, including seven from Darcus and five from Frazier. Richardson had 10 kills for the Pirates in that set alone in a losing effort.
 
After a 6-2 Hampton run, NSU won four straight, with Darcus tallying a block and a kill at the end to put the Spartans ahead, 9-7. Still ahead 14-11 after a kill by sophomore Uwem Etuk, each team won three straight to end up in the exact same spot. Kills from Frazier and sophomore Clarke Tyler made it 19-16, but Hampton won five straight for a two-point lead.
 
Thanks to service aces from junior Alex Irizarry and Moore, the Spartans turned right around and won five of the next six for a 24-22 lead. Seven different times Hampton scored as NSU was one serve away from winning the set. The last of those seven Pirate scores made it 29-29. Darcus put an end to that with back-to-back kills for the 31-29 win.
 
That was all Norfolk State could write, as a 3-2 lead in the fifth set disappeared quickly when Hampton went on a 10-1 run. Down 12-4, NSU forced the Pirates to use both timeouts as the lead began to shrink, but a 6-1 run by the Spartans late was put to bed on one last service error to give Hampton the victory.
 
Frazier ended the night with 10 kills and 16 digs, while Irizarry chipped in with 18 digs. Moore finished with 51 assists, seven kills and five digs.
 
Allysa Medina added 11 kills and 16 digs for Hampton, with Nicholas and Lena Washington each adding 10 kills. Washington also posted eight blocks, with Kennedy Kenney adding seven and Nicholas contributing six.
 
NSU will host Delaware State at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Echols Hall to close out an opening stretch of four of five matches at home to start MEAC play.