Volleyball Storms Back To Stun NSU, 3-2

Box Score COURTESY: NSU SPORTS INFORMATION

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball team seemingly had the match in control, up 2-0 on Howard on Friday night in NSU's home finale at Gills Gymnasium. The Bison, though, had other plans.

Rallying back, Howard pulled the rug out from underneath the Spartans in a 3-2 win on NSU's Senior Night.

The loss dropped Norfolk State to 5-5 in the MEAC Northern Division and into fifth place after both Coppin State and Morgan State both won on Friday. The Spartans saw their overall record fall to 9-16, while Howard improved to 19-8 and 7-2 in the MEAC.

NSU jumped ahead of Howard in front of a capacity crowd in the compact gymnasium, winning 25-19 and 25-22 for a 2-0 lead. The Bison responded, and the Spartans were unable to get back at the end in dropping the next two sets, 25-22 and 25-20. Howard then blitzed NSU in the fifth set, 15-11.

Both teams played well, with Howard hitting .276 compared to Norfolk State's .231 attack percentage. The Spartans had four players in double figures, led by one of their two seniors honored before the match, Goda Jankauskaite. She ended the night with 17 kills and hit .324.

The Bison got big matches out of Katherine Broussard (17 kills, 10 digs), Destinee Harrison (14 kills, eight blocks) and Assata Conway (13 kills).

Howard jumped out to a 7-3 lead to start the match, but NSU had the Bison on their heels from that point forward. The Spartans own 11-of-15 points midway through the set, and NSU's other senior, Coralie Jarema, had three kills during a 6-0 run for a 23-14 advanatage. Howard won five of the next six points before Jankauskaite ended the set with a kill.

NSU led 5-1 early in the second and went up by seven fairly quickly at 12-5 after back-to-back Howard errors. The Spartans needed that cushion after Howard won six straight to cut the deficit to one. Sophomore Janay Frazier got NSU going, and the Bison had to call timeout when they fell behind by four, 22-18. Jankauskaite had two more kills and Jarema ended the set with one of her own to prevent a Howard comeback.

Down 7-4 in the third, the Spartans won three straight to tie it up and went up by two on a service ace from sophomore Jessica Johnson. But after sophomore Angie Darcus made it 13-12 in favor of NSU, the Bison won five straight for a four-point lead. The Spartans cut a five-point deficit down to two thanks again to Darcus, but NSU was unable to get any closer.

Howard had another answer in the fourth, taking a 10-5 lead before Jankauskaite helped NSU tie it up at 11-11. An 8-1 run put the Bison comfortably ahead, and only four straight points at the end kept Norfolk State within five at the end.

Any chance of the Spartans pulling out the win quickly went away after Howard won eight of the first nine points of the fifth set.

Darcus tallied 14 kills on a .417 attack percentage, with Jarema (13 kills) and Johnson (10 kills, 12 digs) also reaching double figures.

Thanks to Harrison's dominance at the net, Howard held a 12-5 advantage in blocks.

NSU will face its last non-conference opponent on Tuesday when the Spartans travel to Washington, D.C., to take on America

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