NORFOLK, Va. — The Norfolk State volleyball team hosts William & Mary on Tuesday, Sept. 8, in Gill Gymnasium. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. in what will be the Spartans' fifth straight match in Norfolk to open the season.
MATCH INFORMATION
Vs. William & Mary | Tuesday, Sept. 8 | 6:30 p.m. | Gill Gymnasium
Fans can purchase tickets through the Norfolk State athletics ticket office and follow the action through live stats on the Norfolk State athletics website.
ABOUT THE SPARTANS
Norfolk State enters Tuesday at 2-2 after splitting a pair of midweek matches last week, falling to Old Dominion in three sets before outlasting Hampton, 3-2, in the "Battle of the Bay." Both of NSU's wins this season have come against CAA opponents, with the Spartans knocking off Elon on Aug. 29 before the win over the Pirates.
Gabrielle Gilbert leads the Spartans with 54 kills (3.38 per set) and a team-best 67.0 points while hitting .208. Kyleigh Moore ranks second with 44 kills and a .202 clip, followed by Isis Castille with 23 and Ava Berry with 19. Berry leads all regulars with a .371 hitting percentage.
Nehir Erimez leads the offense with 80 assists (5.00 per set), while Jasmine Mataira has added 51. Jazeli Vandenburgh tops the defense with 62 digs (3.88 per set), followed by Erimez with 26 and Gilbert with 25. Berry leads the Spartans at the net with 20.0 blocks (1.25 per set), and Briana Ellis has 12.0.
SERVING UP ACES
Norfolk State leads the nation in service aces per set at 3.44, ahead of Duke (2.94) and UNC Asheville (2.92). The Spartans' 55 total aces are tied for 10th nationally with Holy Cross, and NSU has out-aced its opponents 55-37 on the season.
Ellis ranks sixth in Division I in aces per set at 0.87, with a team-high 13 on the year. Mataira sits 18th nationally at 0.75 with 12 aces, while Gilbert and Vandenburgh are tied for 34th at 0.63, each with 10. The Spartans tallied a season-high 25 aces in the five-set win over Hampton.
GILBERT CLOSES IN ON THE RECORD
Gilbert enters Tuesday 12 kills shy of passing Charlotte Armstead (2009-12) as Norfolk State's all-time career kills leader. The senior has 1,166 for her career, trailing Armstead's program record of 1,177, and has reached double figures in kills in each of NSU's four matches this season.
She already owns the program record for career attack attempts, and became the first Spartan to reach 3,000 for her career in the season opener against USC Upstate. Gilbert holds the single-season school records for kills (408 in 2024), kills per set (4.04 in 2024), attack attempts (1,193 in 2025), points (473.0 in 2024) and points per set (4.68 in 2024), as well as the single-match record for attack attempts (73 vs. N.C. Central, 9/27/24).
A three-time All-MEAC First Team selection, Gilbert was the 2023 MEAC Rookie of the Year and the 2024 VaSID State Player of the Year. She also sits 11th in program history with 110 career service aces and 56.0 points shy of Armstead's career points record of 1,399.5.
ABOUT THE TRIBE
William & Mary arrives at 2-3 following a weekend at the VCU Invitational, where the Tribe fell to Virginia before sweeping ETSU on Saturday. W&M opened the season at the Hokie Invitational, dropping its opener to MEAC member Coppin State before knocking off Virginia Tech in five sets and falling to Kent State.
Senior Audrey Brcka leads the Tribe with 37 kills and 42.0 points, and passed the 500-kill mark for her career with a match-high 18 against Virginia Tech. Sophomore setter Cate Hatfield tops the CAA with 177 assists after a career-high 44 in that same match.
The Tribe's middles have been efficient early. Freshman Teagan Pocius is hitting .398 and posted a career-high 10 kills on 14 error-free swings against ETSU, while Olivia Westfort is at .373 and put up eight blocks, three of them solo, in the sweep. Senior opposite Katherine Arnason earned Preseason All-CAA honors after a 250-kill season in 2025, and graduate libero Avery Horejsi was an honorable mention pick after finishing third in the CAA with 455 digs. William & Mary is in its first season under head coach Kellie Catanach Johnson.
SERIES HISTORY
William & Mary leads the all-time series, 16-1. The teams last met on Sept. 13, 2025, in Williamsburg, where the Tribe took a 3-0 decision. Norfolk State's lone win in the series came the last time William & Mary played in Norfolk, a 3-1 Spartan victory on Oct. 2, 2012.
UP NEXT
The Spartans hit the road for the UNCW Tournament in Wilmington, N.C., opening Friday, Sept. 11, against host UNC Wilmington at noon before facing Harvard at 4:30 p.m. Norfolk State closes the weekend against UNC Asheville, which ranks third nationally in service aces per set, on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 11 a.m.
For complete coverage of Norfolk State Athletics, follow the Spartans on social media at @nsuspartans (X/Twitter), /NorfolkStateAthletics (Facebook), @NSUAthletics (Instagram) and @nsuathletics (YouTube), or visit the official home of Norfolk State Athletics at nsuspartans.com.
