The Lady Hawks of Maryland-Eastern Shore defeated Norfolk State 3-1 (22-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-11) on Friday in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championships, held in Holland Hall on the campus of Hampton University.

UMES (24-8) dropped the first set to the Lady Spartans 22-25, which marked the first time all season the Lady Hawks lost a set to a MEAC opponent. But UMES regrouped and took the next three games in dominating fashion, although Norfolk State did force seven ties and four lead changes in the third game.

Whitney Johnson had a team-high 20 kills for UMES, while MEAC Rookie of the Year Christine Edwards had 12. MEAC Player of the Year Christina Estebane’ earned 40 of the Lady Hawks’ 48 assists to go along with a team-high 10 digs. Leah Amundson had nine digs in the win.

Breanna Allums led Norfolk State (10-23) with nine kills, while Nicole Kessner had a team-best .294 attack percentage. Kessner also led the Spartans with 21 of the team’s 30 assists. Solange Honore had a team-high 15 digs.

UMES, the top seed in the MEAC Northern Division advance to Saturday’s semifinal round, where it will face Delaware State at noon.