TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The 2019 MEAC opener saw the Spartans nearly come away with the victory, but Florida A&M had enough left in the tank at the end for a 3-2 win over the Norfolk State volleyball team on Friday night.
 
NSU won the first and fourth sets, taking an early lead in the match and also forcing a fifth set at the Al Lawson Center. The Rattlers, though, made a late push in the final stanza for the win.
 
The Spartans dropped to 0-10 on the year, 0-1 in the MEAC, despite opening the match with a 28-26 win in the first set. FAMU (3-10, 1-0) took the next two via scores of 25-16 and 25-17. NSU rallied late in the fourth set to win 25-23, and the team had a lead more than halfway through the fifth before the Rattlers went on to the 15-13 victory.
 
Senior Anna Rupertova had a team-high eight kills for Norfolk State. Senior Bojana Bolozan and junior Jannel Ezeagwu each added seven, including on just 11 swings for Ezeagwu.
 
FAMU had three players in double figures, led by Maria Yvette Garcia with 16 kills.
 
The Spartans needed to regroup after Florida A&M took control by winning the second and third sets. They fell despite holding leads of 6-1 and 8-3 in the second, as FAMU had runs of 7-0 and then 8-0 to end the set. NSU got as close as three late in the third set, and the Rattlers seemed headed for a win in the fourth as well.
 
They slowly pulled ahead of the Spartans, going up by a 19-14 lead in that fourth set. But NSU responded, winning several points in a row for the lead. Although they still trailed 23-22 a few serves later, the Spartans won the last three points, including the last two on blocks by Bolozan.
 
And in the fifth, the Rattlers held a 7-5 advantage, but they called timeout after NSU won four points in a five-serve span. That put the Spartans ahead 10-9, with junior Taylor Eichelberger giving them that one -edge with one of the team's eight kills in the set. But FAMU won five of the next six and held off NSU after junior Julisa Carrizosa and Bolozan had late kills.
 
At the start of the match, sophomore Makenzy Johnson had a couple of kills as NSU jumped out to a 5-2 lead. The Rattlers countered by going up 10-8, and the teams went back and forth from there. Down by three at 20-17, the Spartans won five in a row for a two-point advantage. FAMU kept giving NSU free points with errors of their own, and a kill from sophomore Breona Young and an ace from Rupertova finally gave the Spartans the early lead in the match.
 
Three players finished with double-digit digs, including a pair with at least 20. Freshman Myleah Carter tallied a career-high 22 digs, and senior Halley McKnight also set a new career best with 20. Carrizosa chipped in with 14.
 
The Spartans hit .113 for the evening, including better than .270 in the first and fifth sets, compared to a .143 attack percentage for Florida A&M. The Rattlers held a 9-2 edge in aces, although the teams combined for 31 service errors.
 
Along with Garcia, Alyssa Brown (13 kills) and Alexis Gosha (11) also reached double figures. Celeste Rodriguez was one of four players for Florida A&M with at least 10 digs, finishing with 21.
 
NSU closes out the road trip on Sunday at Bethune-Cookman at 1 p.m.