RADFORD, Va. – UMBC's solid offensive output, both at the net and the service line, propelled the Retrievers to a 3-0 win over the Norfolk State volleyball team on Friday afternoon at Radford in both teams' 2016 season opener. Later in the day, the Spartans started off slow before giving it a ride in another 3-0 setback, this time to St. Francis Brooklyn in an evening matchup.
 
UMBC finished with 44 kills on a .330 attack percentage in the three-set victory, won by scores of 25-16, 25-17 and 25-12. The Retrievers also tallied 14 service aces, including five from Abbie Mirabella. She also totaled 16 kills and hit .433 to lead their offense.
 
In the second match of the day for the Spartans, St. Francis easily won the first set, 25-10. NSU fought back in the next two sets, ultimately won by the Terriers, 25-21 and 25-23.
 
In its season opener against UMBC, NSU hit .115 and was led by senior Jessica Johnson, who held a .318 attack percentage with a team-best nine kills. No other Spartan player had more than three. Senior Dominique Parker had four blocks and a hand in all four of NSU's team blocks. The Spartans held a 4-0 edge over UMBC in that category for the match.
 
Unfortunately for the Spartans, though, UMBC did plenty of damage around NSU's block. The highlight for the Retrievers came in the opening set, when they went on separate 10-0 and 6-0 runs. They had nine kills and three service aces among those 16 points.
 
The first run wiped out a 5-4 lead for NSU. The Spartans were down by 12 before they won four straight points thanks in part to kills from Parker, Johnson and junior Clarke Tyler. Johnson had four of her kills in the first set.
 
She had four more in the second, and NSU did a better job of preventing any long UMBC runs. The Retrievers never scored more than three straight points, but NSU also surrendered three points during the set because of either rotation or substitution errors. The Spartans ultimately lost by eight, as UMBC scored two points for every one by NSU.
 
An early 10-2 run for UMBC gave the Retrievers an early six-point lead in the third set. They also had runs of 6-0 and 5-0 to win by 13.
 
They held a slight edge in digs, 30-29, over NSU. The Retrievers also had a 14-0 advantage in service aces.
 
Johnson had nine kills and 10 digs in the match against St. Francis to cap the first day of the Virginia Tech/Radford Invitational. NSU, though, got off to a slow start, hitting worse than -.200 in the opening set.
 
The Terriers hit .273 for the match and .273 in the first set as well. They won the first four points of the match and also had runs of 6-0 and 5-0. Only twice did NSU will two straight points in the first set.
 
Johnson had five kills in the second set, one in which the Spartans could have won if they had stopped St. Francis from a large run early in the stanza. The Terriers won 11 of 12 points during that stretch, going ahead by a 12-3 margin.
 
NSU slowly cut into the lead, first on a 5-0 run and then on spurts of 3-0 and 4-1. Junior Hope Forsythe had a pair of kills during that last part to help the Spartans get to within two, 21-19. Two points, though, was as close as they got.
 
The Terriers continued to score points in bunches in the third set, winning five straight and four straight at two separate times. With the deficit at 14-7, NSU held St. Francis at bay until taking seven straight points to tie the score at 20-20. Senior Sydney Dailey had a pair of kills to eventually tie the score, but St. Francis won three straight to jump ahead for good and close the day out.
 
The Spartans finished with a .045 attack percentage, including .186 over the last two sets. The Terriers committed just 10 attack errors, while NSU had the advantage in digs, 39-32. Forsythe contributed seven kills, while senior Alex Irizarry also had 10 digs. After splitting time at setter with Irizarry in the first match, freshman Jill Aquino tallied 22 assists in the evening contest.
 
Domenique Gerard led St. Francis (1-1) with nine kills and was one of three players for the Terriers with three blocks.
 
After playing both matches at Radford on Friday, NSU will travel up the road to Virginia Tech to play Appalachian State on Saturday at 10 a.m. The Spartans then close out their part of the tournament at 3 p.m. back at Radford against the host Highlanders.