Senior Whitney Johnson recorded a match-high 11 kills and added six digs but Valparaiso snapped Maryland Eastern Shore's four-match winning streak, defeating the Lady Hawks, 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-20), to open the Pitt Blue and Gold at Fitzgerald Field House Saturday afternoon.
Senior Caylin Woodward and redshirt junior Samantha Chukwura tallied eight kills apiece as UMES fell to 8-4 on the season. Angie Porche had 10 kills and six digs for the Crusaders who improved to 7-4 with the win.
Valpo outhit UMES in the match, .295-.147, but the squads each had 5.0 blocks in the contest.
Freshman Bella Jade Romero had a match-best 31 assists and also chipped in with eight digs. Fellow freshman Karin Vikterlof the Hawks with nine digs.
Chukwura had a .462 hitting percentage (eight kills, two errors, 13 total attacks) to lead UMES.
The first set was tied at 3-3 on a Johnson kill from Romero, but by the first timeout, Valpo opened a 10-5 advantage and UMES couldn't get closer than that margin the rest of the of way as the Crusaders hit a match-best .433 in the set.
Down, 15-11, in the second set at another Hawks' timeout, Chukwura and sophomore Christine Edwards cut the lead to two with a kill and service ace, respectively. Edwards had five kills, four digs and one block assist for the match.
UMES got as close as two once more in the game at 20-22 on an error from Valpo's Kim Bukowski, but Porche eventually closed the game with an ace, one of the Crusaders' four on the day.
The third set was knotted at 14 when Chukwura and Edwards stuffed an Amy Groesbeck attack. Valparaiso tallied 11 of the match's final 17 points to secure the win.
Tara Diebler and Katie Britton finished with eight and seven kills, respectively, for Valpo. Bukowski had 28 assists and Andrea Balsis tallied 10 digs.
The Hawks next take the court against Youngstown State Sunday at 10 a.m.