PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – In her last match in an NSU uniform, senior Jessica Johnson surpassed 1,000 career kills as the Norfolk State volleyball team saw its season come to a close with a 3-0 loss to Florida A&M on Friday afternoon in the MEAC tournament.
 
Johnson needed six kills coming into the day to become just the second Spartan player ever to reach the 1,000 plateau. She finished the match with eight and closed her career second all-time at Norfolk State behind program leader Charlotte Armstead (1,177).
 
NSU, meanwhile, fell to Florida A&M by scores of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-13 in the tournament's first round at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center at Maryland Eastern Shore. The Spartans ended their season with a 7-20 record, while FAMU improved to 16-11 and moved on to play either North Carolina A&T or Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday in the semifinals.
 
Maria Yvette Garcia did much of the heavy lifting for the Rattlers on Friday, tallying 20 kills with nine digs while hitting .531. She helped the Rattlers hit .235 for the match, while Norfolk State posted a .000 attack percentage with 21 kills and 21 errors on the day. FAMU had 43 kills in the match.
 
The Spartans fell behind by three early in the match before winning six straight off the serve of junior Clarke Tyler. The last two of those points came from blocks by senior Dominque Parker and two other teammates. Those had the Spartans up 10-7, but the Rattlers eventually battled back to tie the first set at 13-13. A later 6-1 run put FAMU ahead by four, and the Spartans got no closer than three in falling behind early in the contest.
 
The Spartans came back a couple of times in the second set, the first after losing six of the first eight points of the stanza. A kill from sophomore Lexi Brown and an error on FAMU got the Spartans to within one at 8-7. After a 7-2 run by the Rattlers, Johnson tallied her 1,000th kill, and NSU countered with a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to 18-16. But after a Rattler timeout, they eventually won the last six points of the set to go up 2-0.
 
FAMU was in complete control in the third set, winning seven of the first eight points and later taking five straight for a 13-4 lead. It eventually stretched to double digits before NSU made one last gasp and won four straight. Still leading 17-11 at that point, Florida A&M served seven straight times and before ending the Spartans' season a few serves later.
 
Elena Dimitrova (35 assists, 10 digs) and Valentina Carrasco (10 digs) were joined by Ginna Lopez-Chavez (six kills) and Radka Dimitrova (five blocks) in leading the Rattlers behind Garcia.
 
Parker had four kills and five blocks in her final collegiate match, while fellow senior Sydney Dailey also added four kills with three blocks. Junior Melvina Brown led the Spartans with nine digs as well.
 
In addition to ranking second in career kills at NSU with 1,002, Johnson also ended her career first all-time in attacks (2,879), sixth in matches played (106), eighth in sets played (374) and 10th in digs (618). She hit .138 during her time with the Spartans with 83 blocks, 81 service aces and 37 assists. Her total of 348 kills this year also stands second in season records. She also set the school records with a 3.66 kills-per-set average and 1,010 total attacks this season while making second-team All-MEAC honors.
 
Parker completed her four-year career 14^th at NSU in blocks assists with 94. She competed in 87 matches all-time, also 14^th in Spartan records, and a total of 252 sets. She tallied totals of 397 kills on a .149 attack percentage, 121 blocks, 60 digs, 26 aces and 12 assists.
 
Alex Irizarry, another four-year player, finished right behind Johnson in career digs with 603, good for 11^th all-time. She also ended her NSU career 12^th in matches played (99), sets played (350) and assists (274) while adding 69 aces. Her best season came as a junior when she tallied 260 digs as the team's starting libero.
 
Dailey also closed out her four-year career at NSU after walking on to the program in 2013. Over the next four years, she played in 76 matches, including 208 total sets, and posted totals of 185 kills, 231 digs, 42 blocks, 18 aces and 12 assists. She had her best season this year, posting career highs of 113 kills, 113 digs, 27 blocks and 13 aces.
 
Uwem Etuk was NSU's fifth and final senior this year. She did not compete her first two years as a walk-on but played in 32 matches and 52 sets the last two seasons with 22 kills, 13 blocks, three digs and one ace.
 
Norfolk State will be forced to replace Johnson, Parker and Dailey, who ranked first, second and fourth, respectively, this year in terms of total kills. Johnson and Irizarry also tallied the second- and third-most digs on the team in 2016. Parker had the second-most blocks next to team-leader Tyler.