Nansemond-Suffolk opened the Tidewater Conference portion of its girls volleyball slate with an easy three-set sweep over Hampton Roads Academy Friday evening at NSA, 25-18, 25-16, 25-18.

The Lady Saints (8-5, 1-0) were never put in danger of dropping a set. They led nearly from wire-to-wire in each of the three games.

It was a far cry from last Friday when the Lady Saints, in their first match with a new rotation put in by first-year head coach Robyn Ross, lost 3-0 to North Cross. NSA was also swept Tuesday by Windsor.

“Tonight came after the first solid week of practice we’ve had with the new lineup,” Ross said.

“Our service receiving and defense really made the difference and those are the things we worked on the most all week,” she said.

A week ago, NSA yielded many aces and many quick points to the visitors from Roanoke. The Lady Saints allowed two aces, turned in all sorts of diving digs and gave away few errors, against their conference foe.

Quinby Hines served eight straight points, including three straight aces in the run, to give NSA a 9-3 lead in the opening set. Hines finished with 27 assists and four aces.

NSA’s top hitter, Tori Dail, was already off to a good start in the match before she put down three kills out of NSA’s first five points in the second set. NSA kept rolling to a 13-6 lead and led easily from there.

NSA jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the last set. HRA closed to within a 12-10 Lady Saint lead, but that was as much of a run as NSA allowed throughout. It was the third NSA win over Hampton Roads this season, but the first two contests went the distance, with a three-set match in a tournament and a five-setter at HRA.

Dail led NSA with 11 kills. Dail and libero Sabrina Carter had eight digs each. Kela Bogaard and Kelsie Halberg added six kills each.

“Sometimes you can tell when a team has found the people that mesh well together,” Ross said. “Tonight, our excitement was up and it’s encouraging because what the guys finally showed tonight was wanting to win together.”

The Lady Saints continue conference play Tuesday evening at Norfolk Academy.