NORFOLK, Va. – Taylor Eichelberger, Rachel Williams and Paola Matos combined for 21 kills, but Howard hit .327 as a team to turn back Norfolk State 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-16) in the regular-season finale for both teams on Sunday afternoon at Echols Hall.

The win gave Howard (15-12, 12-2 MEAC) a share of the MEAC regular-season title, while the Spartans finish the regular season with an 8-17 overall record and 4-10 conference mark.

Eichelberger and Williams, NSU's two seniors who were recognized as part of Senior Day festivities prior to the match, both played well. Williams recorded seven kills and a match-high 13 digs. Eichelberger posted seven kills and four digs and surpassed the 500-kill mark for her career during the match.

Howard never trailed in the opening set, scoring the first three points. The Spartans tied it at 5-all after kills by Eichelberger and Caris Cross, but a later 6-1 run by the Bison helped carry them to a win in the set.

NSU scored the first two points of the second set, but the Bison responded with an 11-3 run and hit .393 in the set to come go up 2-0 in the match.

There were three ties and two lead-changes in the third and final set. An Eichelberger kill and a Howard error had NSU within 10-9 early, but the Bison pieced together an 8-2 spurt to pull away. The Spartans committed eight attack errors in the set.

Matos also had seven kills and chipped in with six digs for the Spartans. Cross had three kills and led NSU with 19 assists, and Nicole Rodriguez finished with 11 digs.

Kailyn Williams' 10 kills paced Howard.

The Spartans will be the No. 6 seed in the upcoming MEAC Tournament, their first time in the conference's postseason event since 2016. The tournament pairings and postseason all-conference awards will be announced later in the week. Howard is hosting the tournament Friday through Sunday at Burr Gymnasium.