NORFOLK, Va. – On the road again. The Norfolk State volleyball team is singing that tune as the Spartans take another adventure in MEAC play. This weekend, they head to Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday for a 6 p.m. contest, followed by a 2 p.m. match on Sunday at Delaware State.
The trip follows their opening weekend of conference play a week ago at Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman. Following these next two matches against the Hawks and Hornets, NSU will be at home for nine of its last 12 contests of the year.
On Friday, one team will get its first MEAC win of the year. Both the Hawks and Spartans stand 0-2 in league play. NSU lost to FAMU by a 3-2 margin and to B-CU, 3-0, last weekend. Maryland Eastern Shore was upended by Morgan State and Coppin State on the road, 3-2 and 3-1, respectively.
The Hawks own a 5-12 overall record on the season. NSU sits 0-11 overall. Delaware State, meanwhile, has been one of the better surprises in the league. They fell to Coppin State by a 3-0 score last weekend before defeating Morgan State 3-2, both on the road as well. DSU also earned a 3-1 win earlier this year against a Hampton team that had already beat NSU and Maryland Eastern Shore at that point in the season. The Hornets have an overall mark of 6-10, tied for the second-most wins in the MEAC.
CSU and Howard started off the year 2-0 in the Northern Division, which includes wins over FAMU and B-CU for the Bison. Morgan State and Delaware State are each 1-1, followed by Maryland Eastern Shore and NSU.
North Carolina A&T (2-0) jumped out to an early lead in the Southern Division with wins over North Carolina Central (1-1) and South Carolina State (1-1). B-CU and FAMU also sit 1-1 after both defeated NSU but lost to Howard last weekend.
Last Time Out
NSU won the first and fourth sets, and Florida A&M won sets 2 and 3, but the Rattlers surged ahead in the fifth and held off a late Spartan rally in a 3-2 win last Friday in Tallahassee, Florida. The Spartans nearly came away with their first win ever against the Rattlers in 26 all-time meetings.
Then on Sunday, Bethune-Cookman needed to hold off the Spartans late in the third set to complete a 3-0 victory in Daytona Beach, Florida. B-CU won the third set 26-24 after NSU's 9-3 run erased a six-point deficit.
MEAC Rankings
Three players sit in the top 10 in the MEAC in their respective categories. Senior
Bojana Bolozan is the highest of those three, as she ranks fifth in blocks at 0.83. Freshman
Myleah Carter sits ninth in digs at 3.54, and senior
Halley McKnight ranks 10
th in service aces at 0.32.
Improved Defense
Carter has reached double figures in digs in six of the last seven matches. Included in there was a career-high 22 digs against Florida A&M and 19 against USC Upstate, both five-set matches. She's averaging 4.2 digs per set during that seven-match streak.
McKnight, as well, set a new career high with 20 digs against FAMU, the third straight match she reached double figures as well. It also marked the first time NSU had a pair of teammates reach the 20-dig plateau since Sept. 25, 2010 in a loss to Delaware State. Arielle Knafel (20) and Noelle Eagles (30) each had at least 20 that day.
Series History
Maryland Eastern Shore has won 11 in a row over NSU, pushing its all-time record against the Spartans to 36-10. They last lost to the Spartans in 2013 when NSU swept all three meetings that year.
Norfolk State has had much more success recently against DSU. The Spartans swept the home-and-home series in 2015, '16 and '18, with the Hornets completing the sweep in 2017. DSU still leads the all-time series, 22-17.
Who's Next
NSU will play its first home match in exactly one month on Oct. 11 when the Spartans host Coppin State at 6 p.m. at Gill Gym. They will also take on Morgan State on Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. at home as well.