DOVER, Del. – The No. 5 seed Norfolk State volleyball team fought to the very end on Friday afternoon at Memorial Hall, falling 3-2 (26-28, 22-25, 25-14, 25-23, 15-13) to No. 4 seed Maryland Eastern Shore in the first round of the MEAC Volleyball Tournament.
 
Just one day after becoming the first player in program history named to the All-MEAC First Team and to earn the MEAC Rookie of the Year award, Gabrielle Gilbert led the Spartans with 21 kills on a .400 hitting percentage, adding nine digs as well.
 
Sydney McCree recorded a 36-assist, 11-dig double-double, while Fabiana Mucciola anchored the Norfolk State defensively with 13 digs.
 
The Spartans brought the energy early, taking an 8-4 lead in the first set after multiple kills by Gilbert and an ace by Shonte Seale. Alexa Harris got on the board with a successful attack, before Grace Smith and McCree put up strong kills to get NSU ahead 12-7.
 
Back-to-back kills from Harris pushed Norfolk State's advantage to 20-13, but the Hawks inched their way back into the set with several service aces and staunch defense. A 6-0 UMES run tied the game 22-22, forcing the Spartans to gather themselves quickly.
 
Seale, the team's veteran leader, stopped the run with a powerful kill, before a bad UMES pass gave the Spartans two opportunities to close the set. A Hawk kill and back-to-back NSU attack errors, however, put UMES back in the driver's seat, but NSU held the opposition off with a block from the two seniors: Seale and Adlene Jideofor.
 
Three kills from Gilbert in a span of four points put the set away for the Spartans, a 28-26 thrilling opener.
 
With the second trailing 9-8 in the second set, Gilbert put away another pass from McCree to jump start a 5-0 run to put the Spartans back in control. When the Hawks caught back up to 14-14, Smith, Gilbert, Seale, and Jideofor tallied kills during a 6-1 run that helped Norfolk State close the second game 25-22.
 
UMES found a groove in the third set, jumping out to an 8-2 lead. Four kills from Gilbert in a matter of minutes kept the Spartans from falling severely behind, but UMES outhit the Spartans .424 to .161 to get on the scoreboard with a strong set.
 
The Hawks kept the momentum going into the fourth game, but the Spartans provided resistance with an improved offensive attack. UMES took an 11-6 lead early, but Norfolk State stormed back on Catori Crawford's serve.
 
The run got the Spartans within one, but they could not quite even things up. With UMES holding set point at 24-18, Crawford contributed back-to-back aces as the Spartans reeled off five consecutive points, but Shanti Ramdeen put away the set for UMES 25-23.
 
The fifth set continued to the back-and-forth battle that both sides had displayed. After Norfolk State came back from down 5-2, neither squad led by more than a single point until NSU took a 12-10 lead to force a UMES timeout.
 
Another kill by Gilbert pushed the Spartans ahead 13-11, but Derionah Abner provided a crucial kill from UMES to pull within one. The Hawks recorded two blocks in the next three points, taking the final game 15-13.
 
Norfolk State finished the season with a 9-14 overall record, 7-7 in the MEAC. The Spartans have now recorded seven or more wins in three consecutive seasons for the first time 2011-2013, and seven MEAC wins in back-to-back years for the first time 2012 and 2013.