NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team begins the closing stretch of its season this Friday when the Spartans host Howard in a MEAC matchup at Gill Gymnasium. First serve is set for 6 p.m.
 
Howard enters the contest sitting in second place in the MEAC after capturing the tournament title each of the last two seasons. This will mark the second-to-last home match of the year for Norfolk State.
 
Live stats and a live video feed will be available for the match.
 
The Bison stand 7-2 in the MEAC and 11-14 overall. Both losses came at the hands of Maryland Eastern Shore, which is primed to take the division title with an 8-0 record so far this year. Howard has won or shared the division title each of the previous three years, going 34-2 in the MEAC during that time.
 
Norfolk State stands 3-20 overall and 0-9 in the league. The Spartans lost twice last weekend during their trip to Baltimore, 3-1 at Coppin State last Friday and then 3-0 at Morgan State on Sunday. They have dropped 12 in a row overall.
 
MEAC Standings
Maryland Eastern Shore carries a 22-7 overall record into this weekend, by far the best among all MEAC teams. The Hawks and Bison lead the North, with Hampton (5-4) and Morgan State (4-4) sitting in third and fourth, respectively.
 
Delaware State (3-5) and Coppin State (3-6) right now find themselves on the outside looking in. Only the top four finishers in each division advance to the MEAC tournament.
 
Bethune-Cookman (7-0) and Florida A&M (6-1) lead the South, with the Wildcats in first after they topped FAMU earlier this year. North Carolina A&T (4-2) and North Carolina Central (3-4) round out the top 4. Savannah State (1-7) and South Carolina State (0-7) will need to rally to get into the top 4 at this point in the season.
 
Big Night
Freshman Taylor Eichelberger played big last weekend in a 3-1 loss at Coppin State on Friday. She hit .460 and more importantly tallied 28 kills, the most in a match in NSU history. She topped the previous school record of 26, set by Amanda Johnson in a 3-2 win over Howard on Oct. 17, 2003.
 
For her efforts, Eichelberger was named the MEAC Co-Rookie of the Week on Monday, her second such honor of the season. She is now averaging a team-best 2.50 kills per set.
 
MEAC Rankings
Senior Melvina Brown is the only NSU player ranked in the top 10 in any category. She stands sixth in digs (3.58) and seventh in service aces (0.33).
 
She helps pace the Spartans in aces per set as a team, where they rank fourth in the MEAC at 1.30. They also continue to sit eighth in opponent hitting percentage (.213), assists (9.23), kills (9.83), blocks (1.42) and digs (11.85) as well as ninth in hitting percentage (.107).
 
Scouting Howard
The Bison, meanwhile, are led by last year's MEAC Player of the Year, Khaila Donaldson. She averages 3.62 kills per set, second in the league. She is joined by Jessica Young (3.05) and the duo of Courtney Dalton (2.24) and Kira Porter (2.13). As a result, Howard leads the league in kills per set as a team at 12.78.
 
Tamia Dockery directs everything to the tune of 9.90 assists per set and is tie for the team lead with 22 aces. She and Donaldson average 2.70 and 2.43 digs per set, respectively. Fola Wilson leads all players with 2.81 digs, although Dockery and Donaldson have more total digs on the year. Porter, meanwhile, has a team-high 71 blocks.
 
Series History
The Bison own a 19-5 lead in the all-time series with NSU. They have won nine in a row after topping the Spartans earlier this year in Washington, D.C., 3-0. Norfolk State lost by scores of 25-19, 25-12 and 25-13.
 
Norfolk State's last win in the series came in 2012 when the Spartans swept both matches that year on the way to a 9-3 regular season MEAC finish.
 
Up Next
The Spartans host division leading Maryland Eastern Shore on Nov. 10 for Senior Day. NSU will honor four of its departing players prior to the 6 p.m. start at Gill Gym. The season finale will take place two days later on Nov. 12 at Hampton.