NORFOLK, Va. – In a raucous atmosphere at Gill Gymnasium, the Norfolk State volleyball team nearly came back to win the first set before tying it up a short time later. Hampton, however, pulled away in the end in a 3-1 win over the Spartans on Tuesday night at Gill Gymnasium.
 
The Battle of the Bay, now a non-conference match this year and beyond, saw the Spartans fall in part because of Hampton's prowess at the service line. The Pirates finished with 20 service aces on the night, including 13 in the last two sets alone that they won 25-18 and 25-11.
 
The two teams traded 25-22 scores in the first two sets as well. The Spartans almost completely overcame an eight-point deficit in the first set before the Pirates won three of the last four points to hold on to the early lead. NSU then won the first seven points of the second set and eventually held off Hampton to tie the match.
 
Those first two sets got the capacity crowd going, especially after the Spartans (0-5) began to rebound in the first set. They fell behind by an 18-10 score before they scored six straight. A pair of kills a little later got the Spartans to within one at 22-21, but Hampton (3-4) finished with three kills over the last four points to secure the early victory.
 
Junior Halley McKnight had four service aces, and junior Bojana Bolozan had two kills and a block during NSU's 7-0 start to the second set. Hampton chipped away over time to tie the score at 15-15, but the Spartans bounced right back. A couple more service aces and a pair of kills helped push the score to 23-19, and they moved on from there with it all tied up.
 
McKnight finished with six service aces, five in the second set alone. NSU had seven aces during that set out of its total of 11 for the match.
 
Hampton countered with its total of 20, 10 of those from Megann Delgado alone. She ended the night with 16 kills and nine digs to nearly pull off the triple double. She helped HU hit .267 for the match.
 
Bolozan and junior Anna Rupertova each had seven kills to lead Norfolk State. Bolozan also tallied six blocks, while freshman Kyra Walden added five. The Spartans hit .089.
 
Norfolk State kept the momentum going early in the third set, scoring seven out of nine points at one point to build an 8-6 lead. Hampton won six of the next seven points, and the Pirates also scored five straight later on to surge ahead. Then in the fourth set, they used a 14-2 run to put the match out of reach.
 
Hampton also gave away 16 points at the service line thanks to an abundance of errors. Kyndall Nicholas and Lena Washington each totaled eight kills too.
 
NSU will head up the road to Williamsburg this weekend for the Tribe Invitational, where the Spartans will play Eastern Michigan, Savannah State and host William & Mary.