NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion volleyball got back in the win column on Tuesday night, defeating their cross-town rival Norfolk State, 3-0 at Echols Hall.
“I’m proud of the team for how they raised their level tonight. It wasn’t clean at times, but we showed more poise in the grind. Our serve and pass was an area of focus and we executed well. It was getting tough down the stretch, but a 3-0 win is a real boost for our confidence,” ODU head coach Fred Chao said afterwards.
The Monarchs improve to 2-2 with the victory and 4-0 in the all-time series versus the Spartans, who dropped to 1-2.
ODU 3, NSU 0
Norfolk State earned the first three points of the match, but a couple of errors and an Emma Schelah kill gave ODU its first lead, 7-6 in the opening set. The Spartans were up 15-12 at the first media timeout, but Rita Benidio served three aces to highlight a 9-0 run as the Monarchs seized the momentum, 22-16. Leilani Lawrence converted a couple of late attack attempts, and the first set went to the Silver and Blue, 25-20.
A 4-0 push by NSU forced an early ODU timeout as the Monarchs trailed, 6-2 in the second set. They would catch their opponents at the 8-8 mark and again at 9-9 on a successful swing by Benidio. Schelah and Lawrence followed with back-to-back blocks before NSU committed a couple of bad sets, allowing the Monarchs to create some separation, 13-9. The Green and Gold couldn’t recover, and a late 3-0 run capped off another set point for ODU, 25-14.
A pair of service aces by Lawrence helped build a 4-1 ODU lead to start the third set, but NSU countered with a 5-0 run to regain control, 6-4. Erica Duffy assisted Schelah on Benidio on a pair of kills, Elisa Maggi then served an ace, and Schelah followed with a solo block to put the Monarchs back in front, 9-7. NSU’s Jazeli Vandenburgh served an ace to give the home team the lead once more, 11-10, but Schelah responded with two aces of her own as the Silver and Blue earned six unanswered points. Gabrielle Gilbert trimmed the Monarch lead to 17-16 with consecutive aces, but Duffy connected with Emma DiRocco and Maggi to make it 19-16. The Spartans finally pulled even at 20-20 and again at 22-22. Benidio then denied NSU’s Catori Crawford, Gilbert committed an attack error, and Lawrence put away a set from Duffy to close out the match, 25-22.
Lawrence was the lone Monarch to finish with double-digit kills, tallying 11 while hitting for a .233 clip. Maggi and Benidio followed with eight kills each, and Duffy ended up with 24 assists. Five different Monarchs served multiple aces, led by Benidio with three. Maggi, Schelah, Duffy, and Lawrence contributed two aces each. The defensive effort saw Schelah make four blocks, two of them solo, with Duffy and DiRocco recording two blocks apiece. On the back line, Adrienne Peji, Maggi, and Duffy had eight digs each and Benidio was right behind them with seven.
There were a total of 16 ties in the match, with six in the first set and seven in the third, and nine lead changes. ODU outhit NSU, .218 to .129, and had a better serve receive, .946 to .807. The Monarchs also edged the Spartans in kills (34-29), assists (30-26), service aces (11-5), digs (40-32), and blocks (8-6). The 11 aces also mark a new season high.
Up Next
The Monarchs will be in the Palmetto State this weekend for the Winthrop Invitational. ODU opens the tournament against Virginia on Friday at 4 p.m., then faces the tournament hosts on Saturday at 2 p.m.