Winthrop 3, North Carolina Central 0

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Senior outside hitter Kelsey Murphy paced visiting North Carolina Central University with six kills and 10 digs in a straight-set loss at Winthrop University Tuesday evening.

The Winthrop Eagles (9-12 Overall) snapped four-match losing streak with the 25-15, 25-14, 25-13 non-conference victory. The NCCU Lady Eagles (3-11) have lost three straight.

Murphy led NCCU in kills for a fourth time in her senior season by ripping a half dozen spikes. Murphy also reached double-figure digs for a third time by scooping the ball up 10 times.

Senior Casey Curran and sophomore Whitney White added five kills apiece and sophomore Kierra Shipman chipped in four kills. Junior setter Paige Phillips contributed 16 assists, four digs and two aces. Shipman tacked on seven digs and Curran and White both dug up the ball five times.

Freshman Sammie-Jo Ah-Hong guided Winthrop to the win with a double-double of 16 kills and 11 digs. Senior Emma Weakland blasted 12 kills and classmate Brianna Gray was a third Eagle with double-digit points with seven kills and four blocks. Winthrop hit .340 for the match.

Freshman setter Siani Yamaguchi tallied 21 assists and junior Mallory McFadden supplied 16 assists.

NCCU next visits Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 6 p.m.

NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State held off a late Aggie rally in the fifth set, and the Spartan volleyball team came away with the victory, 3-2, in a tit-for-tat match against North Carolina A&T State on Wednesday evening at Gill Gymnasium.

The two teams went back and forth in what was officially a non-conference tilt, with the Spartans winning the first and third sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-21, respectively. The Aggies, meanwhile, won the second and fourth sets by identical 25-19 scores to set up a wild finish to a wild contest.

The Spartans were up by as much as three in that final stanza and only needed two more points to win. The Aggies stormed back to tie it up and force extra points, but NSU finally prevailed by a 17-15 margin to run its overall record to 4-13. N.C. A&T State, which had defeated the Spartans at home last week by a 3-0 score, fell to 6-11 on the year.

NSU got big performances from several seniors. Jessica Johnson led all players with a career-high 22 kills to go along with 11 digs and a pair of blocks. Dominique Parker also set a career high with 14 kills while adding three blocks. The third of the senior trio, Sydney Dailey, tied her career best with 10 kills as well.

Parker hit .393 for the match to help the Spartans finish with a .139 team attack percentage.

Freshman Jill Aquino handed out a career-high 48 assists, and junior Melvina Brown posted 21 digs. N.C. A&T State had four players in double figures and led NSU in digs for the match, 66-55.

The Aggies also had a 13-7 edge in blocks. Jasmine Lindor had eight, while Samara Brown added six and Hawkins contributed five. Brown led the team with 16 kills with 11 digs, and Keniah Rivera had a team-high 17 digs for N.C. A&T State.