• NSU 2021 SPRING SCHEDULE • January Sun. 24.... George Mason..............W, 3-2 Fri. 29...... VCU...............................4 p.m. Sun. 31.... at Old Dominion...... Postponed February Thur. 4..... Delaware State.............4 p.m. Mon. 8..... at Delaware State.......... 4 p.m. Thur. 11.... at N.C. A&T *................. 4 p.m. Fri. 12...... at N.C. A&T *................. 1 p.m. Tues. 16... at UNC Wilmington........ 4 p.m. Thur. 18... S.C State *.....................1 p.m. Fri. 19...... S.C. State *....................1 p.m. Thur. 25... at N.C. Central *............ 4 p.m. Fri. 26...... at N.C. Central *............ 1 p.m. March Thur. 4..... at S.C. State *................ 4 p.m. Fri. 5........ at S.C. State *................ 1 p.m. Thur. 11... N.C. Central *................4 p.m. Fri. 12...... N.C. Central *................1 p.m. Thur. 18... N.C. A&T *.....................4 p.m. Fri. 19...... N.C. A&T *.....................1 p.m. April Fri.- 2-...... MEAC Champ. #..............TBD Sat. 3 Home Matches in Bold played at Joseph Echols Hall * MEAC Southern Division Contest # NSU will host at Echols Hall
• MEAC STANDINGS •
Northern Division Team MEAC Overall Howard 0-0 0-0 Coppin State 0-0 0-0 Delaware State 0-0 0-1 Morgan State 0-0 0-1 Maryland Eastern Shore Opted Out Southern Division Norfolk State 0-0 1-0 North Carolina A&T 0-0 0-0 North Carolina Central 0-0 0-0 South Carolina State 0-0 0-0 Florida A&M Opted Out Bethune-Cookman Opted Out
VOLLEYBALL
• NORFOLK STATE SPARTANS vs. VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH RAMS • 1-0............................................................................. Overall Record.......................................................................... 2-0 0-0..........................................................................Conference Record....................................................................... 0-0 9.60.................................................................................. Kills/Set............................................................................ 13.83 .153..................................................................................Attack %.............................................................................. .337 1.20.................................................................................. Aces/Set.............................................................................. 1.83 14.40................................................................................ Digs/Set............................................................................ 14.00 2.00................................................................................ Blocks/Set............................................................................ 2.83 Rachel Williams (3.00).............................................. Kills Leader.................................................Lauren King (3.67) Heliceliz Rivera (7.20)............................................. Assists Leader.............................................Dani Jo David (5.67) Nicole Rodriguez (5.40)............................................ Digs Leader............................................... Qairo Bentley (3.83) Jannel Ezeagwu (1.20)............................................. Blocks Leader.......................................... Jasmine Knight (1.50) Kathy Bullock (2nd Season).....................................Head Coach....................................... Jody Rogers (8th season)
• GAMEDAY INFORMATION • Date....................................................... Friday, Jan. 29 Time..................................................................... 4 p.m. Location...................................................Norfolk, Va. Arena...............................Joseph Echols Hall (4,500)
Series History.................................. VCU leads, 8-0 Live Video....................... NSUSpartans.com/Watch Live Stats......................................NSUSpartans.com In-Game Twitter Updates......... @NSUSpartans
• MATCHUP GAME NOTES •
Norfolk State at a Glance The Spartans built plenty of momentum to start the year after downing the Patriots 3-2 on Sunday evening at Echols Hall. NSU won the first and third sets, 25-20 and 25-18, while GMU won the second and fourth sets. The Spartans fell behind by one in the fifth set but scored three straight points to eventually win 15-12. Three Spartans were rewarded by the MEAC with weekly honors on Monday: Nicole Rodriguez (Defensive Specialist of the Week - 27 digs), Heliceliz Rivera (Setter of the Week - 36 assists, 17 digs, five kills, four blocks) and Paola Matos (Rookie of the Week - eight kills, nine digs, three blocks). VCU at a Glance Virginia Commonwealth began the year with a pair of 3-0 wins at Liberty and at Old Dominion. The Rams hit .337 in the two wins and were a force at the net with 2.83 blocks per set. Four different players averaged at least two kills per set to begin the year, including top scorer Lauren King at 3.67 kills. Jasmine Knight added 2.83 kills and 1.50 blocks, while two of her teammates in Qairo Bentley (1.17) and Kylie Loftis (1.00) also averaged at least one block per set. Bentley also contributed 2.50 kills and a team-leading 3.83 digs. Series History NSU and VCU have met eight times over the years, with the Rams coming out on top each time. The last meeting came in 2016 in Richmond, and the Spartans last hosted the Rams in 2012. Norfolk State has never taken a set against VCU in those eight all-time meetings.
• NORFOLK STATE PROBABLE STARTERS • No. Name 1 Rachel Williams 2 Nicole Rodriguez 7 Paola Matos 10 Paola Maradei 13 Taylor Eichelberger 15 Jannel Ezeagwu 21 Heliceliz Rivera
Year Sr. Jr. Fr. Jr. Sr. R-Sr. Jr.
Ht. 5-10 5-5 5-11 5-11 5-11 5-11 5-9
Pos. OH L Opp MB OH/Opp MB S
K/S 3.00 0.20 1.60 1.00 1.40 1.20 1.00
A/S D/S B/S 0.40 1.80 0.20 0.80 5.40 0.00 0.00 1.80 0.60 0.00 0.40 0.80 0.00 0.0 0.40 0.00 0.20 1.20 7.20 3.40 0.80
Off the Bench 3 Jaida Bynum 6 Jazmine Craig 9 Anjola Thomas 11 Kalaya Brown 12 Myleah Carter 14 Jurnee Stuckey 16 Kaia Brown 17 Siera Jones 18 Symone Thomas
Fr. Sr. Fr. Fr. So. Fr. Fr. So. So.
5-7 S 0.00 5-9 OH/DS -- 5-10 MB -- 5-5 DS/L -- 5-5 L/DS 0.00 5-6 Utl -- 5-10 MB 0.25 5-6 L/DS 0.00 5-8 OH/MB 0.00
0.75 0.25 0.00 -- -- --- -- --- -- -0.20 1.00 0.00 -- -- -0.00 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
NORFOLK STATE SPARTANS (1-0) HEAD COACH: Kathy Bullock (North Carolina A&T ‘87, 2nd Season) ASSISTANT COACHES: Jazmyne Johnson (Mississippi State ‘16, 1st Season) NO. NAME
1 2 3 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 21
Rachel Williams Nicole Rodriguez Jaida Bynum Jazmine Craig Paola Matos Anjola Thomas Paola Maradei Kalaya Brown Myleah Carter Taylor Eichelberger Jurnee Stuckey Jannel Ezeagwu Kaia Brown Siera Jones Symone Thomas Heliceliz Rivera
POS.
OH L S OH/DS Opp MB MB DS/L L/DS OH/Opp Utl MB MB L/DS OH/MB S
HT.
5-10 5-5 5-7 5-9 5-11 5-10 5-11 5-5 5-5 5-11 5-6 5-11 5-10 5-6 5-8 5-9
YEAR
HOMETOWN/PREVIOUS SCHOOL
Sr. Mesquite, Texas/Arkansas-Fort Smith Jr. Kissimmee, Fla./Daytona State College Fr. Largo, Md./Elizabeth Seton HS Sr. Fort Huachuca, Ariz./Buena HS Fr. Fajardo, Puerto Rico/Colegio De Diego de Carolina Fr. Beaumont, Calif./Beaumont HS Jr. São Paulo, Brazil/Trinidad State JC Fr. Mesa, Ariz./Mesa HS So. Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay HS Sr. Roanoke, Va./Patrick Henry HS Fr. Cypress, Texas/Langham Creek HS R-Sr. Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge HS Fr. Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Polytechnic HS So. Bridgeville, Del./Delmarva Christian HS R-So. Kileen, Texas/C.E. Ellison HS Jr. Corozal, Puerto Rico/Frontier CC
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH RAMS (2-0)
HEAD COACH: Jody Rogers (Eastern Connecticut ‘93, 8th Season) ASSISTANT COACHES: Kevin Maureen Campbell (Nebraska-Omaha ‘95, 1st Season); Peter Winters (Northern Arizona ‘13, 1st Season) NO. NAME
POS.
HT.
YEAR
1 2 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 20
L/DS S L/DS MB L OPP/MB OH/OPP OH OH S MB MB S MB OH/DS OPP
5-6 5-9 5-5 6-0 5-6 6-1 5-9 6-0 6-0 6-1 6-1 6-1 5-7 6-2 5-8 6-1
Fr. Fr. Fr. Fr. Jr. Fr. Fr. Fr. So. R-Fr. Fr. Sr. Jr. So. Sr. Fr.
Crew Hoffmeier Corinna Jones Christina Butera Jasmine Knight Alyna Draper Lauren King Jessica Humphries Addison Foote Qairo Bentley Kaelyn O’Brien Kylie Loftis Veronica Brod Farias Dani Jo David Sabria Cooper Paula Neciporuka Parker Hartzell
HOMETOWN/PREVIOUS SCHOOL
Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington HS Newton, Mass./Newton North HS Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep Southfield, Mich./West Bloomfield HS Laurel, Md./Atholton HS Prospect, Ky./North Oldham HS Denver, Colo./Denver East HS Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge HS Grand Prairie, Texas/Martin HS Porto Alegre, Brazil/College of Central Florida Virginia Beach, Va./Bayside HS Oklahoma City, Okla./Memphis Kuldiga, Latvia/Murjanu Sporta Gimnazija Alexandria, Va./West Potomac HS