Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Head Coach Don Metil dodged a bullet in the second set as the Lady Hawks topped Elon ,3-0 (25-22,26-24, 25-14) to start their final day of competition at the Colonial Challenge.
 
Elon's Emily Regan tied the game up for the ninth time in the first set on a second ball kill that put both teams at 22. Christina Esteban? put down a kill to push UMES up by one. The Phoenix called a timeout after a kill by Whitney Johnson put the Lady Hawks on set point. Johnson responded with a huge hit down the line to end the set.
 
Elon went on a 12-2 run at the end of the second set to go ahead of the Lady Hawks 23-24. A kill by Christine Edwards tied the game at 24 all. And a bad set by Elon's Megan McMahon put UMES up 25-24. Thonya Joseph and Caylin Woodward then blocked Lauren Copenhagen to put the Lady Hawks up two sets to none.
 
"We stopped passing," said Metil. We made up for it before it really hurt us, but we have to find a way to minimize the mistakes and be consistent throughout a match."
 
UMES came out on fire in the third set, going on an 8-0 run. They never relinquished the lead, ending the match on a block from Johnson and Joseph. The Lady Hawks committed 27 total errors, a vast improvement from the William & Mary match last night where they had 28 hitting errors alone. Their record is now 6-6.
 
Esteban? improved to a triple-double, with 33 assists, 13 digs and 10 kills. Johnson had a team high 14 kills and Edwards finished with 13. Woodward tied Esteban? with a team high 13 digs.
 
For Elon, Caroline Lemke had a game high 15 kills. McMahon had a team high 13 assists followed by Regan who finished with 12. And Copenhagen was the only player in double digits for digs with 11. The Phoenix are now 10-4 on the season.
 
The Lady Hawks will close out their weekend against Radford today at 4:30 p.m.