NORFOLK, Va. - The 2010 edition of Norfolk State volleyball team will have a new look with the addition of seven new players and a new head coach in interim head-man Brandon Duvall. After serving as an assistant at NSU the last two seasons, Duvall returns seven athletes from the 2009 season. 
    Included among them is junior setter Nicole Kessner, the Spartans’ 2009 All-MEAC second-team pick. The 2009 squad finished 9-22 overall and 3-5 in MEAC play and advanced to the opening round of the MEAC Tournament.
    Duvall inherits a young team, with just one senior in Tracey Copley and two juniors – Kessner and Winston-Salem State transfer Jasmine Frazier (Fredericksburg, Va./Winston-Salem State). Kessner and redshirt sophomore Paige Gary-Canty are the only two players who were with the team just two seasons ago.
    “Even though we only have one senior on the team, we have a good core group of returners,” said Duvall. “All went through a lot last year learning how to lead a team and be a more positive influence on the floor.”
    With such a young team and with several youngsters expected to contribute early, Duvall knows that the opportunity is there to build something at NSU and give the program a new identity.
     “We’re trying to bring in kids who’ve great experience and played at a decently high level,” said Duvall. “They’re coming into a program where they have a chance to build it from the ground up, especially combined with the upperclassmen and their collegiate experience.
    “They all know how to win. That’s the big thing. We have a new face to the program, and now we can build our own tradition.”
    The Spartans lost five players from the 2009 season, including seniors Solange Honore, Angie Clewis and Aurelia Isham along with sophomores Breanna Allums and Elayne Greer. Those five players combined to make 76 match starts and were responsible for 44 percent of NSU’s total kills, 47 percent of its digs and 52 percent of the team’s blocks.
    Joining Duvall on the bench for the 2010 season will be assistant coach Dave Albaugh, a veteran Hampton Roads high school and junior Olympic coach. Prior to his arrival at NSU, Albaugh spent more than a decade coaching the boys’ and girls’ volleyball teams at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake.
    A team leader on and off the court, Kessner will be the main setter for the Spartans in 2010. En route to being named NSU’s Most Valuable Player in 2009, Kessner led the team and ranked seventh in the MEAC with 767 assists. She also recorded 193 digs, 130 kills, 22 aces, 20 total blocks and a team-high .276 hitting percentage in 105 sets. Kessner ranks fourth all-time on the NSU assists list after just two seasons with 1,285 and is within striking distance of the all-time record of 1,971 set by Honore.
    Sophomore Kristen Burt will see time as the setter along with Kessner, as Duvall looks to run a 6-2 with both setters in the back row. In 2009, Burt had 74 assists in reserve action for Kessner and also added 123 digs (1.74 per set, ranking fifth on the team), 17 kills and 10 aces in 83 sets.
    “Both are well-improved from last year and from what we’ve run in practice, both will come in and set a really good ball,” said Duvall.
    Returning to the team from last season at the outside hitter position are sophomores Ellica Morris and Chynna Blaker and Gary-Canty. Morris finished fourth on the team with 1.58 kills per set in 71 sets as a freshman with 36 digs and 10 blocks.
    “One of the heaviest arms on the team,” explained Duvall about Morris. “Needs a lot more game experience, but skill wise having time off during the summer to get healthy has really helped her.”
    Blaker tallied slightly less than one kill per set in 61 sets last season to go along with 33 digs and five blocks.
    “Definitely a vocal leader,” he said. “She came in and said she wanted to help guide the freshmen through the transition into college, thinking she’d take a back seat, but she’s done some very good things as practices have progressed hitting the ball. She’s a very positive influence on the floor.”
    Gary-Canty suffered the second season-ending injury of her college career three matches into the 2009 season when she went down with concussion symptoms, but she is expected to be at full strength to start 2010.
    “Paige is going to be great. She put in a lot of work over the summer,” Duval said. “She has a lot to prove. She’s back on track to where we would want her to be.”
    The Spartans lost Isham to graduation and Allums left the team prior to conference play, and NSU will also have to make up for the offensive loss of Clewis and Greer. Clewis was third on the team in kills per set in 2009, while Greer was the top offensive threat, averaging 1.98 kills per set. 
    Newcomers Arielle Knafel (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS), Tiana Patterson (Dumfries, Va./Potomac HS) and Mykal Vailu’u (Tustin, Calif./Arnold Beckman HS) will add depth to the outside hitter position.
    Knafel was an AAU All-American as a senior and led Center Grove HS to the final four at the state championship that year as well on her way to being named the Johnson County Athlete of the Year. 
    “Even at 5-9, she is probably our highest jumper and most explosive hitter right now,” said Duvall. “She’s very quick on the floor and will be one of our best ball-control players on the floor, front row and back row.”
    Patterson was a first-team all-region honoree her senior year as well as team MVP her junior and senior seasons and has the physical tools to take a step up at NSU.
    “She hasn’t had the same kind of experience the other players have had, but physically she can play,” said Duvall. “Physically, she’s exactly what we want her to be. She just needs more game experience.”
    Vailu’u was a standout on both the volleyball and track and field teams during her high school days and also hails from a nationally-ranked club team, said Duvall.
    “Mykal is very, very good with her feet with a very quick arm,” he continued. “She puts a lot of heat on the ball.”
    Sophomore Charlotte Armstead is the only Spartan middle blocker back from last season. NSU lost Clewis to graduation and Greer left the team at the end of the season. Armstead, NSU’s Rookie of the Year, led the team with 60 total blocks (47 assists, 13 solo) and leads the returnees in kills (192), kills per set (1.86) and total attacks (475), ranking second on the team in 2009 in all three categories to Greer.
    “The height that she hits the ball is a very big asset,” said Albaugh. “She has a very long arm and hits the ball at a very high point. Her foot speed is very good, and she is one of our quicker blockers out there.”
    Backing up Armstead at middle blocker will be Frazier and freshman Kylee Thiim (Honolulu, Hawaii/Sacred Hearts Academy).
    Frazier comes north to Norfolk after two years at Winston-Salem State, as she led the team in total blocks both years, including 73 last season. She also added 91 kills and 64 digs in 2009.
    “We were fortunate to have Jazmine transfer in last spring,” said Duvall. “It’s hard to consider her new, because she’s been part of our team chemistry since the spring. She feels that she is a returner, even though she hasn’t played one match for us yet.
    “Charlotte and Jazmine are really bringing it to the middle blocker position.”
    Thiim arrives all the way from Hawaii, where she was a member of the 2006 state championship team.
    “She has an extremely high volleyball IQ,” Duvall continued. “She knows the court very well. She finds open spots. She’ll be more of a control player and a big block for us.”
    Copley and sophomore Maatra Henderson will share the libero duties to start the season. Copley is second among the returnees with 189 digs, finishing third overall on the team in 2009. She also topped all teammates with 31 service aces and also showed some offensive flash, totaling 99 kills on the year.
    “Tracey had to hit outside for us last year, but she will be assuming a defensive role for us this year,” Duvall said.
    Henderson played sparingly, totaling 29 digs in 53 sets, but should have an expanded roll come 2010.
    “She’s been quite a surprise for us,” Duvall said. “Ball control was an issue last year, but she told me at the end of the year she’d come back and make sure she will improve and that I’d see she put the work in. She’s absolutely right. Her ball control is much better than it was last year.”
    Freshman Noelle Eagles (Richmond, Ind./New Castle Chrysler HS) will vie for playing time at the libero position. Eagles was a three-time all-conference member in high school and set the single season record for digs her senior year.
    “She’s from one of the top clubs in the nation, and right now she’s on fire for us,” said Duvall. “She’s been playing tremendous. She’ll end up playing a significant role at that position.”
    The schedule will be favorable for the Spartans early on, as the team will kick things off at home Aug. 27-28 when they host the Spartan Classic with Providence, Navy, UNC Greensboro and Kent State.
    “We’re getting these good mid-major programs in that we are really going to have to compete against if we want to come out with a few wins right off the bat,” said Duvall.
    NSU will also play in tournaments hosted by Radford, Coastal Carolina, UNC Greensboro and Maryland Eastern Shore along with another home tournament, the Spartan Invitational, on Sept. 25 against Davidson and Delaware State.
    “With our schedule this year, we should be competing at a high level with these teams,” Duvall declared.
    The team kicks off the conference schedule Oct. 4 at home against Florida A&M, as the Spartans play seven of eight matches at home during the middle of October.
    Other non-conference home matches include dates with Savannah State, James Madison, North Carolina Central and Hampton. The Spartans play each of the MEAC southern division teams at home and on the road, and play on the road at Savannah State, NCCU and Hampton.