NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team gets set for its first MEAC road trip of the season this weekend. The Spartans travel up the coast to face Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday and then Delaware State on Sunday.
 
The contest against the Hawks will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center. Live stats and live video for that match will be available. NSU will face the Hornets on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Memorial Hall.
 
The Spartans will be taking on a Maryland Eastern Shore team that won the regular season Northern Division title last year at 12-0 and ended the year 27-9 overall. The Hawks currently sit 1-0 in the league and 4-11 overall after defeating Delaware State last weekend. They also took care of Hampton and South Carolina State earlier in the season in non-conference play.
 
Delaware State carries a 0-1 MEAC record, 2-16 overall, into its match on Friday against Howard. The Hornets finished just above NSU in the standings last year and find themselves in the same place this year. The Spartans currently own a 0-2 record in conference play, 1-11 overall.
 
DSU and NSU are the last two schools in the Northern Division, out of six teams total, still searching for their first conference win. After this weekend, the Spartans will have played four of their 10 MEAC games on the year.
 
MEAC Rankings
NSU's best category continues to be at the service line. The Spartans stand fifth in the league in aces per set at 1.56. Junior Halley McKnight leads all conference players with 0.52 aces per set, while junior Bojana Bolozan is seventh at 0.38.
 
McKnight also ranks 16^th in the nation in aces per set, while Bolozan is also in the top 100. McKnight is aiming to become the first NSU player since 2005 to lead the league in any statistical category.
 
Double Duty
Anna Rupertova currently paces NSU in both kills (2.26) and digs (2.08). Since the 2011 season, only one player has averaged at least two kills and two digs per set, that being Angie Darcus in 2015 (3.23 kills, 2.02 digs).
 
Stacey Williams, in 2003, was the last NSU player to lead the team in both kills and digs for a season.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore
Preseason MEAC Player of the Year Lucia Babic carries the offense for the Hawks, averaging 3.61 kills per set while hitting .257. She also contributes 1.71 digs, 0.57 blocks and 0.43 service aces per set. Rachel Kayongo tallies 2.49 kills, with no other player above the 1.50 threshold.
 
Koya Sowells (2.69 digs) and the duo of Mauri Carver (0.87 blocks) and Lidia Chery (0.76) are some of the key players on defense. Ivana Blazevic (8.33 assists) directs traffic on offense.
 
Thanks in part to Babic, the Hawks hit .195 as a team, third in the league and their highest ranking as a team in any category. Babic is second in the league in points, third in service aces and hitting percentage in fourth in kills per set.
 
Delaware State
For the Hornets, Mayah Ngundam is the leader on offense with 2.32 kills per set. Four other players average between 1.45 and 1.65 kills per set. Sydney Armbrister is one of those players at 1.65. She also leads the team with 0.45 blocks. DSU, however, only average 1.05 as a team, last in the league.
 
The Hornets do rank second in the MEAC in service aces at 1.65, with Melixa Cardona tops among all DSU players with 0.37. Leimaluhia Taula by far is the team leader in digs at 3.35 per set, seventh in the league. Cardona, meanwhile, stands sixth in assists (6.50).
 
Up Next
The Spartans get set to host Howard, the defending conference champion, next Friday at Gill Gymnasium. First serve is set for 6 p.m.