NORFOLK, Virginia – Green took control in the middle of the match and then held on in extra points in the fifth set to defeat Gold 3-2 on Saturday afternoon. The Norfolk State volleyball program held its annual Green vs. Gold Scrimmage at Gill Gymnasium before the start of the fall semester.
Green benefitted from a balanced attack, with sophomores Quiana Griffin (12 kills) and Taylor Eichelberger (10 kills) and junior Bojana Bolozan (11 kills) leading the way. They actually fell in the first set however, 25-20, but stormed back to win sets 2 and 3, 25-14 and 25-12.
But just as Green was ready to end the match early, Gold rallied in the latter stages of the fourth set to win 25-22. Neither team led by more than two points in the fifth set. Green had three chances to put it away but saw Gold stay alive each time. Then on its fourth chance, Green was able to finally end the match by taking the last set, 20-18.
Green also got eight kills from junior Daiysa Burrell and five each from sophomore Jazmine Craig and junior Halley McKnight on the way to the win. Gold, meanwhile, was led by junior Anna Rupertova with 15 kills. No one else had more than six kills for Gold.
Bolozan and McKnight sparked Green in the first set, but Rupertova had several kills and service aces late in the set to lead Gold to the win. Green then pulled away in the second set, using an 11-2 run to turn a one-point lead into a 21-11 advantage.
After finishing off the second set, Green stormed out to an 11-1 lead in the third set. McKnight and Eichelberger each had three service aces during that time, and Eichelberger sparked Green to increase the lead to as much as 13.
Bolozan had a pair of kills to start the fourth set, and kills by several different players allowed Green to eventually go up by as much as six. Eichelberger's kill made it 13-7, but Gold rallied after that point. Freshman Symone Thomas had a block and a kill to get things going, and junior Ashley Patterson tallied three straight service aces to get Gold to within one.
A few errors on Green gave the lead back to Gold and then extended it to four. Rupertova had a pair of kills late to keep the match alive.
Thomas and Griffin each had two kills early in the fifth set as the teams went back and forth. Each team got kills from three different players, but then kills by McKnight and Griffin and a block from freshman Alyx Steitz made it 13-12 in favor of Green.
Another block by Steitz kept the match alive for Green, but kills from Rupertova, Patterson and sophomore Jannel Ezeagwu allowed Gold to keep going. Another kill from Patterson made it 18-17 in favor of Gold, but kills from Eichelberger and Bolozan and another block from Bolozan finished off the match for Green.
Both Patterson and Eichelberger each had five service aces, while McKnight added four. Patterson and Thomas each had six kills as well to complement Rupertova. Green finished with 12 service aces for the match compared to nine for Gold.
Bolozan and Ezeagwu each led their respective teams with six blocks. Steitz had four, while Griffin and Thomas each added three.
The Spartans will practice for another two weeks before playing their first matches of the season on August. 31 at Georgetown.
NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS
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