Norfolk State Volleyball

Friday, Sept. 23	NSU at Coppin State, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 25	NSU at Morgan State, 3 p.m.

NORFOLK, Va. – After a weekend away from competition, the Norfolk State volleyball team will dive into MEAC play this weekend when the Spartans take a three-day trip to Baltimore to face a pair of conference foes.
 
NSU will first play at Coppin State on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a Sunday afternoon matchup at Morgan State on Sunday at 3. The Spartans will ultimately go 13 days between matches after staying home last weekend and last competing on Sept. 10 at Elon.
 
The weekend will pit NSU against a pair of teams looking for their first wins of the year. Both CSU and MSU stand 0-14 on the season. Each team has lost on four occasions by 3-1 scores, and Coppin State nearly came away with a win against Kent State last weekend before dropping a 3-2 contest.
 
CSU is led by Bailee Jackson, who averages 2.81 kills per set with 2.62 digs. She is one of four players averaging at least two digs per set, as backrow defense has been the team's biggest strength so far this year. For Morgan State, Natashia Barker has tallied 2.64 kills per set for an offense that hits .101. Haley McClure adds 2.14 kills and has the most total digs on the team with 93.
 
The Spartans, meanwhile, stand 1-10 on the year, with a victory over South Carolina State three weeks ago. NSU fell in its other 10 matches by 3-0 scores.
 
MEAC Stats
Senior Jessica Johnson currently ranks second in the league in kills per set at 3.45 behind league leader Khaila Donaldson of Howard at 3.96. Johnson also sits third in points per set at 3.70. Freshman Jill Aquino stands eighth in the MEAC in assists per set at 6.12.
 
As a team, NSU ranks highest in service aces per set (1.30) and digs (12.39), sitting fifth in both categories out of the 13 teams in the league. The Spartans also rank ninth in opponent hitting percentage (.278), assists (8.36) and kills (9.03), 10^th in hitting percentage (.086) and 12^th in blocks (1.00).
 
Melvina on the Move
One player not ranked (yet) is junior Melvina Brown. She is currently averaging 4.29 digs per set, which would rank fourth in the league. However, she is just short of the two-thirds threshold (66.7 percent) needed to appear in the rankings. After missing the first weekend of play, Brown has appeared in 21 of the team's 33 sets (63.6 percent).
 
She was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Phoenix Classic two weeks ago in NSU's most recent action. There, she tallied 18 digs in matches against host Elon and Gardner-Webb and 13 against Wofford, averaging 5.44 digs per set.
 
MEAC Schedule
In other MEAC Northern Division action this weekend, Hampton will also play at Morgan State and Coppin State opposite of the days NSU plays those two teams. Howard, meanwhile, will host UMES on Friday and travel to Delaware State on Sunday.
 
Howard currently has the best record in the entire league at 10-5 overall. UMES, at 7-8, owns the second-best record, while no other team has more than three wins this year.
 
Series History
Coppin State owns a five-match win streak against NSU and now leads the all-time series with the Spartans, 14-11. Morgan State swept both matches last year versus the Spartans, although NSU had won five of the previous six before that. Still, the Bears have an 18-6 edge all-time.
 
Up Next
NSU will play its first home matches of the year next weekend, beginning with UMES on Sept. 30, followed by Delaware State on Oct. 2. Both matches will be played in Gill Gymnasium.