Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Despite a record-breaking day from senior Darcy Moore and a career afternoon from sophomore Hope Forsythe, the Norfolk State volleyball team was unable to hold on to an early lead in a 3-2 setback against Morgan State on Sunday afternoon at Joseph Echols Hall.
 
The Spartans cruised through the first set in winning 25-11 over the Bears, who then won the second by a 25-22 score. The two teams battled to extra points in the third set before the Spartans prevailed, 31-29. Morgan State finished strong in the fourth set to win 25-21 and then led through the entire last stanza stanza in a 15-11 fifth-set win.
 
Moore finished the day with a school-record 57 assists, topping the previous record of 56 she set two years ago as a sophomore. Forsythe also had a big day, tallying career highs of 18 kills, 23 digs and four blocks.
 
The win improved Morgan State's record to 5-11 overall and 2-0 in the MEAC, while NSU fell to 1-14 and 0-2.
 
It certainly started off great for the Spartans, who forced Morgan State to call both of its first-set timeouts before the Bears even got six points on their side of the board. MSU trailed late in the second set before rallying to tie the match, which was followed by a hectic ending to the third set.
 
The Bears again rallied from a late deficit to take the fourth set and then used that momentum to finish off the win.
 
The Spartans suffered the setback despite posting 10 more kills than MSU (67-57) and hitting .217 compared to a .169 clip for the Bears.
 
Forsythe sparked NSU early, finishing with five kills in the first set. The Spartans led 7-1 to start the match and later won six in a row to make it 17-5. Forsythe had two more kills and a block during a 5-1 run, and junior Dominique Parker ended the first set with the second of her eight kills on the day.
 
Down 8-3 in the second set, the Spartans got kills from four different players during a 7-1 spurt. The teams fought over the lead as the set wore on, but after MSU called timeout the Spartans went ahead by two, 20-18, on kills by Forsythe and senior Angie Darcus.
 
Down 21-19, Morgan State closed the set on a 6-1 run. Darcus had six kills in the second set as she finished with 13 kills and 13 digs for the match.
 
The Spartans were down by one early in the third set but eventually pushed their lead to four, 11-7, after two kills by Forsythe and another from sophomore Clarke Tyler. Parker's kill put NSU ahead by five, 16-11, before the Bears began to cut into the Spartan lead.
 
MSU traded two points for every one from NSU, eventually tying the score first at 23-all and then 24-24. Forsythe saved the Spartans with a kill and then a block with Parker when NSU faced set point by the Bears. Senior Janay Frazier's kill did the same, and then she added one more kill right before a Parker service ace to finish the middle stanza.
 
Neither team had more than a two-point lead in the fourth set until MSU won five of the last six points. The Spartans led at 14-13 thanks to a block from Frazier and Parker, and they still had the edge as late at 19-18 on a kill by Tyler. The Bears, though, won seven of the last nine points of the set to force the fifth and deciding one.
 
There, MSU took the first four points before NSU battled back to get to within one on a service ace by Forsythe. The Spartans got to within one three more times, the last at 12-11 when the official blew the whistle for a ball handling error on the Bears.
 
It was not to be, as Keana Browne threw down a kill for MSU and setter Carmen Fernandez finished the match with a service ace to give the Bears the comeback win.
 
Browne was one of four players for MSU in double figures in kills with 10, while Arianna Hayden tallied 15 kills and 13 digs. Evely Macedo (12 kills, 15 digs) and Samantha Prescott (12 kills, 11 digs) also ended the day with double-doubles.
 
Frazier added 14 kills and 13 digs for NSU while hitting .393, with Tyler (12 kills, four blocks) and Parker (eight kills, three blocks) also chipping in.
 
Junior Alex Irizarry posted 15 digs to help NSU finish with a 78-69 advantage in that category for the match.
 
NSU finished one assist short of tying the school's single-match record of 66.
 
The Spartans will next travel to UMES on Friday for their first MEAC road match of the year.