ELON, N.C. – Norfolk State came out on fire in the first set and rode that early momentum to a 3-1 win over North Carolina Central in volleyball action on Friday afternoon at the Phoenix Classic.
 
In a match hosted by Elon at Alumni Gym, the Spartans committed just two hitting errors in rolling to a 25-18 first-set win. NSU cooled slightly in the second, still a 25-22 victory. The Eagles, though, came away with a 25-17 win in the third set to extend the match before Norfolk State ended things with a 25-22 fourth-set triumph.
 
Freshman Jazmine Craig played a big part in NSU improving to 2-3 on the year. She tallied 13 kills to pace all players with nine digs. The Spartans also got eight kills from freshman Taylor Eichelberger and seven off the hands of junior Lexi Brown.
 
They were able to overcome 28 attack errors, 26 of those after the first set. The Eagles (0-7) committed just 13 and hit .182 compared to .138 for NSU. The Spartans did hold an edge in service aces (12-3) while tallying 12 more kills than NCCU.
 
Craig had six kills in the first set alone, which started off with NSU up 6-1. Later in the set, freshman Clara Kick added a kill and a service ace to extend the lead to seven, and another kill from Craig made it 23-15. She added one more kill after the Eagles scored three straight, and an error on NCCU finished the set.
 
The Spartans could not completely maintain that hot start, committing nine, nine and eight attack errors in the next three sets. Still, NSU built a 7-2 lead to start the second stanza, only to watch the Eagles come all the way back and eventually go up by three at 15-12. That capped a 13-5 run.
 
The Spartans chipped away and got kills from Kick and Craig, the latter of whom had six kills for the second straight set, to take the lead back at 19-18. NSU got kills from three different players on three straight plays to pull ahead late, and sophomore Daiysa Burrell knocked down her second kill late in the set for a 2-0 lead.
 
Brown's service ace momentarily gave the Spartans a 5-4 lead in the third set, but it was all N.C. Central from there. The Eagles began to score two and three points for every one point by NSU. The Spartans got no closer than five in the latter stages before NCCU's Da'Nesha Miller finished things off with two straight kills.
 
Eichelberger led NSU early in the fourth set, and senior Hope Forsythe's ace made it 9-6. The Eagles called timeout there and then later during a 6-2 run for NSU that made it 16-11. But just when the Spartans looked to have the match in the bag, NCCU turned around and scored eight of nine points for a 20-18 lead.
 
NSU's rookies came up big again, with Kick and Eichelberger each tallying kills right after that point. Eichelberger later had a block, and a service ace from freshman Quiana Griffin also played a big part in the final run. Then one of the elder statesman on the team, senior Clarke Tyler, closed out the match with her third kill of the set.
 
Forsythe finished with 24 assists and 11 digs in splitting time with Griffin at setter, while senior Melvina Brown led all players with 19 digs and three aces.
 
Jazmine Daye (nine kills) and Miller (eight) led the Eagle offense.
 
NSU will play twice on Saturday, first against Charleston Southern at 10 a.m. and then host Elon at 7 p.m.