Box Score

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Looking to force a three-way tie atop the MEAC Northern Division standings, the Norfolk State volleyball team got past the first of two hurdles in accomplishing that feat in a 3-2 win over Bethune-Cookman Friday afternoon at Moore Gymnasium.

The Spartans nearly fell short of the win, rallying to win the fourth set, 25-23, before coming away with a 16-14 victory in the fifth set. The Wildcats went up by a 2-1 score after winning the second and third sets, 25-13, 25-23, following a 25-21 first-set win by NSU.

The win pushed NSU's MEAC record to 5-2 on the year, and 13-18 overall, and will set up a showdown at Florida A&M Sunday at 3 p.m. Should the Spartans defeat the Rattlers, both teams along with South Carolina State will finish the season 6-2 in conference play.

Sophomore Charlotte Armstead led all players with 15 kills, while sophomore Ellica Morris added a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs, her second double-double of the year.

Freshman Arielle Knafel nearly joined her with a match-high 11 digs and nine kills, while junior Jasmine Frazier had five blocks to go along with nine kills on a .412 attack percentage. Junior Nicole Kessner posted 40 assists and nine digs.

Armstead hit at a .273 clip, but the Spartans as a team had a .106 attack percentage. The Wildcats held a 15-6 advantage in blocks and hit .137. Bethune-Cookman also had more service aces, 9-5, while the Spartans totaled more digs, 50-46.

Kaiyana Johnson led the Wildcats with 11 kills and seven blocks, and Krysta Gardner had six blocks and eight kills. Jennifer Jimenez had a match-high 12 digs and four service aces, while the duo of Alexis Bliese and Frances Rodriquez totaled 19 and 17 assists, respectively.

Frazier landed a kill for a 7-4 lead as the first set got underway, but three straight errors on the Spartans gave the Wildcats the lead back at 9-8. Armstead began and ended a 5-0 run with kills that made it 14-10 NSU, but B-CU clawed back and tied the set at 17-all following a 4-1 run.

Redshirt sophomore Paige Gary-Canty slammed home a kill, the last of four straight points for NSU, that pushed the lead back to four at 21-17. NSU called time after B-CU got to within one at 22-21, but Armstead hit back-to-back kills, her sixth and seventh of the set, and Morris scored the last point of the set for a 25-21 win.

Down 3-0, NSU never got on track as the second set wore on, falling behind by eight at 15-7 as NSU scored two straight points just one time during the set. A 5-1 run gave the Wildcats a double-digit lead as they went on to a 25-13 victory.

An early 7-0 run by the Wildcats, part of a bigger 12-1 run, gave B-CU what seemed to be an insurmountable lead at 12-2. Back-to-back kills by Armstead helped end the Wildcat onslaught, but B-CU kept the Spartans at bay up until a 20-11 lead.

An 8-0 run by the Spartans, the last six points coming off Wildcat attack errors, got NSU to within one at 20-19. Two more attack errors on B-CU momentarily gave the Spartans a 22-21 lead, but NSU committed three straight errors after being up 23-22 to hand the Wildcats the third-set win, 25-23.

The Spartans looked to be in deep trouble when a 6-0 run by B-CU gave the Wildcats a 9-4 lead in the fourth set. Armstead landed two service aces during a 7-1 run that made it 15-14 NSU. The teams later traded the lead before the Wildcats called timeout down by two at 21-19.

The Wildcats tied the score at 23-23 after two straight kills, but Frazier landed a huge kill to make it 24-23 before an attack error on B-CU forced a fifth set with a 25-23 win for NSU.

NSU used that momentum to jump out to a 3-0 lead, and Bethune-Cookman called timeout after Frazier gave the Spartans an 8-6 advantage. The Wildcats tied the score at 10-10 off a service ace, then called time when Armstead blocked an attack for a 11-10 NSU lead.

The Spartans used a timeout when Gardner's kill cut the lead to one at 13-12, but after B-CU tied the score at 13-13 and then again at 14-14, a kill by Knafel and an attack error on the Wildcats completed the NSU rally, 16-14.

NSU wraps up the regular season Sunday at 3 p.m. at nine-time defending MEAC champion Florida A&M before heading to the MEAC tournament next weekend.