NORFOLK, Va. – Team White defeated Gray by a 3-0 score on Saturday afternoon when the Norfolk State volleyball team held its annual Green vs. Gold Scrimmage at Joseph Echols Hall.
 
White won by scores of 25-20, 25-18 and 25-22, overcoming early deficits in the first two sets before holding off a late Gray charge in the third.
 
Gray fell despite having 32 kills to 30 for White. Four different players tied for the match high with eight kills. Seniors Sydney Dailey and Jessica Johnson and junior Clarke Tyler each had eight for White, while freshman Daiysa Burrell led Gray with eight kills as well.
 
White dug itself a hole to start the match, falling behind by a 6-0 score thanks to four attack errors. Dailey then got White going with three kills over a five-serve span. White later won six in a row to take a 10-9 lead. They led by only one, 15-14, a little later after a kill by Gray's Uwem Etuk. White, though, scored the next five points to gain a comfortable lead. Etuk again had a kill to get Gray to within three before White went on to win the opening set.
 
Burrell had a couple of kills early in the second set, and sophomore Lexi Brown added a pair of service aces to help Gray eventually pull ahead, 8-5. White, though, won the next five points and nine of the next 10 for a five-point lead. Johnson and Tyler each had a pair of kills as White went up by as much as seven. Freshman setter Jill Aquino had a kill and solo block on back-to-back plays to help White eventually close out the set.
 
Gray had several errors to fall behind in the third set, with White going ahead 9-4 before they returned the favor with several errors of their own. With junior Tori Tulensru serving, including two service aces, White scored seven straight points. Both teams began to commit errors left and right, although White still led by nine, 20-11. Brown then had two kills and a service ace to help Gray win six of the next seven points.
 
After White made it 24-17 on a service ace by junior Hope Forsythe, Gray scored the next five. Freshman Ashley Patterson had three straight kills at one point, but White's lead was ultimately too much in the three-point third set victory.
 
Tulensru had five of White's 10 service aces on the day, while Brown had all four for team Gray. Brown and Patterson each had five kills for Gray, while teammate Dominique Parker added six. Etuk and junior Melvina Brown each posted three kills, and freshman Jessica Radford had two for Gray.
 
Forsythe added three kills for White, with Aquino (two) and freshman Jannel Ezeagwu (one) also adding to their team's total. Ezeagwu also had three blocks to lead all players. White had four team blocks, compared to three for Gray.
 
The Spartans will begin their 2016 season next Friday in the Virginia Tech/Radford Invitational.