Norfolk State split a pair of matches on the final day of the University of Texas-El Paso's Sun Bowl Invitational tournament on Saturday. The Spartans (1-2) blanked Texas Southern 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-15) and then fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-8, 25-10) to host UTEP at Memorial Gym.
Against Texas Southern (0-2), the Spartans took control quickly and jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the first set. NSU used a 15-9 run to win the set and made easy work of the Tigers in the next two sets to take the match.
Breanna Allums had a match-high eight kills and Nicole Kessner led all players with 24 assists. As a team, NSU hit .312 with 37 kills, while limiting TSU to just 12 kills and a -.127 hitting percentage.
In the match against UTEP (3-0), the Spartans played a competitive first set, keeping things close for most of the set. But the Miners turned up the defense and capitalized on Spartan errors in the next two sets for the win.
The Miners' Amy Saunders had a match-high 15 kills and hit .333. Allums paced the Spartans with six kills.
For her efforts in the three tournament matches, Kessner earned all-tournament honors. She tallied 65 assists, 19 digs and 11 kills.
NSU hosts Hampton at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.