NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team makes its first appearance in the MEAC Tournament since 2016 this weekend. The Spartans, seeded sixth, meet No. 3 seed Coppin State on Friday night in the quarterfinal round at 8 p.m. at Howard University's Burr Gymnasium in Washington, D.C.

The contest will be the fourth and final matchup in Friday's quarterfinals. Semifinals are set for Saturday starting at 5 p.m., with the championship match on Sunday 8 p.m. on ESPNU.

Live stats for all tournament matches will be available here. A free video stream for the quarterfinals and semifinals is available here.

NSU enters the 2021 MEAC with a 4-10 conference record as well as an 8-17 overall mark. The eight regular-season wins are NSU's most since the 2013 team won 11.

Season Series
In order to keep the season going, Norfolk State will have to get past Coppin State, which went 9-5 in the MEAC and 15-11 during the regular season. The Spartans and Eagles faced each other twice during the season and split the meetings. In the first matchup, sophomore Paola Matos and junior Shonte Seale each put down 13 kills to lift Norfolk State to its first MEAC victory of the season, 3-1, on Oct. 8. In the second match, host Coppin State avenged its earlier, earning a split of the teams' season series with a 3-1 win on Oct. 29 behind Paola Caten's 18 kills.

Spartans in the MEAC
Several Spartans ranked in the top 10 in MEAC statistical categories during the regular season. Matos led NSU in hitting percentage, ranking eighth in the MEAC at .249.

Seale led the team in kills with a 2.89 average per set, seventh-best in the MEAC. Classmate Gracie Teeter claimed the seventh spot in blocks with an average of 0.77 per set.

Freshmen Caris Cross ranked second in assists at 8.32 per set, and libero Nicole Rodriguez was second in digs at 5.0 per set.

Rodriguez and Cross Picks up MEAC Honors
Nicole Rodriguez was named second-team All-MEAC this week when the conference announced its postseason awards. Rodriguez was NSU's first all-conference honoree since Jessica Johnson was voted to the second team in 2016.

Cross also earned recognition by landing a spot on the MEAC All-Rookie team.

NSU's MEAC Tournament History
This will mark NSU's first MEAC tourney appearance since 2016. The Spartans will be looking to make some program history, as only once since the turn of the century has a Spartan team won a match in the tournament. That came in 2012 when the Spartans defeated North Carolina Central 3-2 in the quarterfinals and nearly upset Florida A&M in the semifinals before falling 3-2. The Spartans also lost to FAMU in their most recent tournament appearance in 2016. NSU is 3-14 all-time in the tournament.

All-Academic Spartans
NSU placed seven players on the MEAC Volleyball All-Academic Team. MEAC sophomore, junior and senior student-athletes with a 3.0 or better cumulative grade point average, as well as transfer student-athletes who have been in residence at the institution for at least one year, are eligible for All-Academic accolades.

NSU's honorees were:
Myleah Carter
Taylor Eichelberger
Siera Jones
Paola Maradei
Nicole Rodriguez
Rachel Williams
Christian Wilson