NORFOLK, Va. – When the spring sports season was shut down, it marked the end of a decade of Norfolk State athletics. From the fall of 2010 to the spring of 2020, it was a 10-year stretch that saw countless highlights across NSU's 15 total sports. Many of those programs' greatest achievements – since NSU made the jump to NCAA Division I in 1997 – came during this decade.
 
Over the course of these last two weeks, we are going to finish spotlighting those storylines right here on NSUSpartans.com. Each week, we'll choose a different sport(s) and take you down memory lane before we get set to start a new decade of excellence. In addition, head over to our Twitter page (@NSUSpartans) where fans will have the opportunity to vote for what they think is the greatest highlight per sport. At the end, they will also be able to vote for the greatest overall highlight in NSU athletics during the past 10 years.
 
It is our second-to-last week of our series, and today we take a look at volleyball. We've narrowed it down to five storylines from the past decade that we'll focus on, in no particular order.
 
A.) The record had stood since 2003, and on Oct. 27, 2017, then-freshman Taylor Eichelberger was finally able to do what several other players had come close to doing but never could. In a MEAC match at Coppin State, she set a new school record with 28 kills, topping the previous mark of 26 set by Amanda Johnson on Oct. 17, 2003 against Howard. Eichelberger hit .460 for the evening in the four-set loss to the Eagles. She started off on fire, knocking down 10 kills in the first set alone as NSU took the early lead. She added seven kills in the second set, eight in the third and then three more in the fourth to put her name at the top of the list. Several players during this most recent decade had reached 20 kills in a match, but it wasn't until a freshman came around that someone was finally able to topple the all-time mark.
Read more about Eichelberger topping the school's kills record.
 
B.) The program's finest season as a Division I program came in 2012. The Spartans finished with a D-I record 14 wins on the year, and they went 9-3 and tied for second in the Northern Division. It marked the most MEAC wins and the best finish since joining the conference. NSU nearly made the MEAC Tournament final for the first time ever, topping North Carolina Central in the first round and then battling Florida A&M in a semifinal classic. The Spartans lost the first set, won the next two, and were a serve away from the tournament final before the Rattlers rallied to win the fourth set in extra points. FAMU needed extra serves to win the fifth, but nevertheless the Spartans ended a strong campaign. NSU players set five individual season records, and a player we'll read about later capped an outstanding career.
Read more about NSU falling to Florida A&M in the 2012 MEAC semifinals.
 
C.) The decade got off on a strong note, as the 2010 campaign helped to set up the Spartans for the next several years. In head coach Brandon Duvall's first season in charge, NSU posted its first winning MEAC record at 5-3, good enough for a third-place finish in the Southern Division. The program won 13 matches during the year, the most in its D-I history up to that point and still the second-most after the 2012 campaign. Duvall, meanwhile, was voted the MEAC Coach of the Year, another first for the program, after he took over less than a month before the start of the season. Norfolk State set several D-I team records, many of which were later broken by the 2012 squad. Still, it marked a great start to the decade for NSU, the first of four straight campaigns the Spartans had more MEAC wins than they had ever had.
Read more about Duvall being named the MEAC Coach of the Year.
 
D.) There were many catalysts throughout the decade for NSU, including All-MEAC players Noelle Eagles, Goda Jankauskaite, Nicole Kessner and Jessica Johnson. But one player left as big of a mark as any. Charlotte Armstead was a two-time second-team All-MEAC performer, during the aforementioned 2010 and '12 seasons. She became the first NSU player ever to top 1,000 career kills (joined later by Johnson), and she left NSU with school career records for kills, blocks and points. She is the only player in program history ever to be named to the VaSID All-State team or All-MEAC twice, and she was the NSU Female Athlete of the Year her senior year in 2012-13. Armstead certainly was not the only reason for NSU's success during the decade, as Eagles, Jankauskaite, Kessner and Johnson were all members of the 2012 squad. But her role in helping to elevate the program certainly was a big highlight during the decade.
Read more about Armstead's accomplishments at NSU.
 
E.) The last regular season match of the 2016 season came at home against Hampton in the Battle of the Bay. Norfolk State needed a win over its long-time rival to get back to the MEAC Tournament for the first time in three years. And a win was delivered that November day in front of a raucous crown. The Spartans topped the Pirates by a 3-1 score, not only securing a berth in the conference tournament but knocking Hampton out of it. NSU swept the Pirates that year to win the tiebreaker after the teams tied for fourth in the division. The win of course gave NSU the chance to play another match. And that gave Johnson the opportunity to surpass 1,000 career kills, which she did in the tournament quarterfinal loss to Florida A&M as another stellar Spartan career wrapped up.
Read more about NSU topping its rival to end the 2016 regular season.
 
Those are but a few of the highlights from volleyball this decade. Be sure to check our Twitter @NSUSpartans to vote for your favorite each and every week. Next week, we will wrap up our series by taking a look at men's track and field.