WILMINGTON, N.C. - The Norfolk State women's volleyball team fought hard on the first day of action at the Hampton Inn and Suites Seahawk Invitational falling to both the Pirates of East Carolina in straight sets while forcing the Hornets of Alabama State to five sets.
In the first game of the day, the Spartans started off strong but their inexperience on the court showed as the Pirates took the opening game in three sets (25-11, 25-15, 25-13).
NSU opened the first set going up early 8-5 following three kills, an ace by Catori Crawford, and four ECU errors. The Pirates dialed in and went on a 20-3 rally to close out the opening set 25-11 as four aces contributed to the run. Senior attacker Shonte Seale recorded four kills in set one.
Set two was similar to the first as the teams were neck and neck through the opening serves sitting tied at three all following an ECU attack error. The Pirates took the advantage following a 10-4 run leading 13-7 as two of the Spartans four points came off kills from Seale and Gabrielle Gilbert.
Alexa Harris recorded her second kill of the set putting the score at 22-10, but ECU put down back-to-back kills needing just one more to take the set. The Spartans rallied, scoring five points in a row to hold off the Pirates match point opportunity through seven additional services. Gilbert recorded two kills while Fabiana Mucciola collected one and Trinity Mitchell served up an ace in the rally. Unfortunately, the NSU rally began too late as ECU won set two 25-15 with a kill from Angeles Alderete.
ECU opened the third set on an 11-2 run with Seale and Harris recording the two NSU points. The Spartans closed the gap to five points, 11-6, after scoring four in a row on kills from Gilbert, Seale, and Mucciola. Back-to-back kills from Seale later in the match put Norfolk State down by six, 17-11, but East Carolina closed out on an 8-2 run to win set three 25-13.
Shonte Seale led the Spartan attack with 11 kills. Gabrielle Gilbert contributed six of her own. Sydney McCree tallied 19 assists, while Fabiana Mucciola led with seven digs. Seale and McCree added six digs apiece while Gilbert dug up five attacks.
The Spartans came out in the second game of the day ready to go as they quickly opened a 7-3 lead over the Hornets in the first set. ASU closed the gap to one point, trailing 10-9, but NSU pulled back ahead by four (13-9) after three consecutive errors from ASU. Alabama State came back to knot the score at 21 all following a 12-8 run forcing Norfolk State to call time out to regroup. The Spartans came out of the timeout putting down four kills by four different players, Seale, McCree, Gilbert, and Harris, to win set one 25-23.
Set two started off quite the opposite from set one as the Hornets took the early 9-4 lead over the Spartans. A double block from Adlene Jideofor and Seale pulled NSU within five points, trailing 15-10. Alabama State took off from there going on a 10-5 run winning set two 25-15 and splitting the match score at one game each.
The third set was a battle for both teams as the score tied 12 times through the first 15 points for each team. The Hornets took a slim three-point lead, 18-15, but the Spartans pulled within two points, 22-20, after scoring three consecutive points including a kill from Gilbert. Alabama State managed to keep Norfolk State at bay through the final serves to win set three 25-22 taking a 2-1 match lead.
NSU started off the fourth set on a 5-3 run before ASU came back to take a 7-6 lead. A kill from McCree evened the score at seven all. The teams knotted the score five more times, last at 17 all before the Spartans went on a 3-1 run taking a 20-18 lead. Gilbert put down two kills and a service ace as well as assisting in a block with Grace Smith giving NSU a 24-21 lead. After ASU scored their 22nd point, Harris put down a final kill for the Spartans (25-22) to even the match score at two sets each.
Much like the previous four sets, the teams were deadlocked throughout most of the fifth set. NSU put down six kills of their first 11 points as the score sat tied at 11 all. The Hornets managed to capitalize on some Spartan errors late in the set claiming the fifth set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
Alexa Harris and Gabrielle Gilbert both recorded a season-high 16 kills while Shonte Seale added another 11 to her days total. Setter Sydney McCree put up 40 assists and four kills to go along with seven digs and two blocks. Fabiana Mucciola and Kaden Sanders bolstered the backline for a combined 35 digs with Mucciola collecting 21 and Sanders adding 14.
The Spartans return to the court tomorrow evening as they face the host Seahawks of UNC Wilmington at 5 PM in Trask Coliseum.
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