WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Norfolk State volleyball team opened its 2018 season with a pair of losses in the Georgetown Classic on Friday afternoon. The Spartans were swept by the hometown Hoyas before suffering a similar 3-0 setback to UNCW later in the day.
Host Georgetown improved to 3-2 on the season with a 25-13, 25-17, 25-10 win, a match in which the Spartans committed 19 attack errors to their 15 kills. The Spartans fell to UNCW by 25-17 scores in the first two sets before the Seahawks cruised in the third set, 25-9.
The Spartans hit better against UNCW (1-3), a .141 clip with 21 kills. The Seahawks, however, finished with a .427 attack percentage, with four different players tallying seven kills each to lead the way.
Junior
Bojana Bolozan added five kills to lead NSU, which trailed by just two at 10-8 early in the first set. The Seahawks led by as much as 10 before Norfolk State took four of five points late in the set. UNCW pushed past the Spartans in the second set after a 7-1 run put the Seahawks up by nine.
UNCW won six and eight straight in the third set as well.
No Spartan player had more than three kills in the first match of the day against Georgetown. Bolozan had six blocks against the Hoyas, as she had a hand in all six blocks for the Spartans in the contest.
Symone Speech (15 kills) and Elissa Barbosa (12 kills) paced the offense for Georgetown, which hit .360 and tallied 42 kills in three sets. The Hoyas had runs of 8-0 and 7-1 to get themselves going. They overcame an early 6-3 deficit in the second set after Bolozan hit one of her four service aces.
An 11-2 run was followed later by a 7-1 spurt as Georgetown pulled away, while Bolozan accounted for her last three service aces all in a row to get NSU to within 22-17. But only once in the third set though did NSU score two in a row.
Freshman
Brenna Ankrum tied for the match high with nine digs.
Norfolk State will play two more matches on Saturday, first against Penn at 10 a.m. followed by a contest against George Mason at 4 p.m.
