Nansemond-Suffolk Academy junior outside hitters Livi Bono and Lindsay Knierbein got some help on offense, and junior libero Logan Harrell spearheaded a strong service game, allowing NSA to open conference play with a win on Thursday.

The Lady Saints defeated host Hampton Roads Academy in straight sets, 25-13, 25-12, 25-14.

“They did really well,” Nansemond-Suffolk coach Robyn Ross said on Friday. “We worked this week in practice a lot on some mental parts of the game, and then we had talked after the weekend tournament of sharing the load offensively, and so last night, we had four girls that hit above a .300, so that makes a big difference, when it’s more than just Livi and Lindsay.”

The hitting percentage is calculated by taking a player’s tally of kills, subtracting their errors and then dividing by the number of kill attempts.

Bono led Nansemond-Suffolk, as usual, with 13 kills on Thursday, and Knierbein chipped in five, while senior middle blocker/outside hitter Anna Vastardis emerged as a major standout on offense, with seven kills and five aces.

“Anna had one of her best matches all around with serving and hitting,” Ross said, adding that she “really stepped up and did her part of sharing some of the load, offensively.”

The Lady Saints’ service game helped power them to the win, as they generated 16 aces, and they scored almost 70 percent of the time when they served.

“In the second set, we scored 19 of the 25 points off our serve, but 17 of those 19 points were Logan serving, so she had a string of 18 serves in a row in that set, which was huge,” Ross said.

Harrell had five aces in that set alone and finished with a team-high eight on the night. She served 29 times and had 24 points on serve for the match and also led NSA defensively with 25 digs.

Ross said Nansemond-Suffolk junior setter Nicole Wright “did a really good job of moving the ball around,” and registered 31 assists.

The Lady Saints won the state championship last year, but dropped the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools regular season title and tournament championship match to Cape Henry Collegiate School.

Entering regular season conference play this year, Ross said her expectations for her team are the same as always.

“I think that these girls are prepared to win, that they know how to win,” she said. “The youth factor comes in a little bit, but it doesn’t change my expectation, and it doesn’t change their expectation. They set goals at the beginning of the year, and winning the TCIS is one of their goals this year that is a definitely achievable goal. That’s the plan, and we’re sticking to it.”

Nansemond-Suffolk (15-7, 1-0) is scheduled to host Southampton High School on Monday.