NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion volleyball hit for a season-best .358 percentage and served 13 aces as the Monarchs earned a 3-0 win at Norfolk State on Tuesday night at Gill Gymnasium.
"Thought we served tough when we really needed to," said head coach Fred Chao. "Being in the close matches recently has helped us maintain our composure late in the sets. Our size helped us tonight. I would like to see us control the first touch moving forward, but NSU made it challenging for us at times. Overall, I'm pleased with our ability to control the end of the sets tonight."
ODU 3, NSU 0
Ashley Peroe led the Monarchs (4-6) and set a new season high with 12 kills. The outside hitter from Virginia Beach, Virginia swung for a .524 clip, tied her season high in digs with seven, and added one assist and one ace to her totals. Tessa Mati also reached double-digit kills with 10, Myah Conway was next with seven and Bailey Burgess scored six. Teresa Atilano turned in 32 assists and ODU had seven different players serve an ace, led by Conway with four. ODU's defensive effort was anchored by Jamie Bissmeyer's 12 digs and Conway's 10 digs and four blocks.
The Monarchs edged the Spartans (0-8) in points (62.0 – 44.0), kills (43-37), aces (13-3), blocks (6-4), assists (38-33) and digs (41-39).
ODU built an 8-4 lead early in the first set, but NSU earned five unanswered to jump ahead, 13-11. As the teams traded multiple 4-0 runs, an ODU attack error allowed the home team to pull ahead 23-22. However, Atilano, Mati and Conway scored three-straight kills to secure a 25-23 decision.
In Set Two, a kill by Duncan opened a 5-0 push that put ODU in front, 10-6. NSU refused to give up the set without a fight, tying the score at 17-17, 19-19 and again at 21-21. Kills from Peroe and Mati, along with a Spartan attack error, helped create some separation for ODU at 24-21. NSU earned the next two points to keep the set going, but Mati converted an attack for another 25-23 tally in favor of the Monarchs.
Both sides were locked at 8-8 in the third set when Burgess scored a kill to open a 4-0 run. Back-to-back service aces from Conway helped make it a 17-11 ODU advantage, and NSU was unable to close the gap from there. Ahead 19-14, a pair of Ashlynn Belcher aces highlighted a 6-0 push to close out the set and the match.
Up Next
The Monarchs have their final tournament of the regular season this weekend as the team travels to Richmond, Virginia to play in the VCU Invitational inside the Siegel Center. Friday will see ODU play North Carolina at 10 a.m. and UMBC at 3 p.m. The team then concludes the trip on Saturday with a 6 p.m. match versus the tournament hosts.
Live stats will be available and Saturday's meeting with the Rams will be streamed on ESPN+.
Volleyball Earns 3-0 Win at Norfolk State Tuesday
