Winthrop Sweeps North Carolina A&T, 3-0ROCK HILL, S.C.- The Aggies (0-13) struggled to get in attack rhythm against the defending Big South regular season champion Eagles (4-7), as they were swept, 25-15, 25-8, 25-17. A&T has lost the last 17 sets, facing a tough non-conference slate.
The Aggies made 85 attacks on Friday, but only landed 15 for kills and totaled 19 errors. The Aggies had to settle for making over passes instead of attacks at several points during the match.
Junior Chelsea Fox, who was playing left side for the first time, totaled a team-best seven kills in 19 attempts. Freshman Ashley Johnson posted 11 digs for her seventh double digit digs match. Senior Andrea Evans added three blocks in the game. Sophomores Ian Thompson and Destinee Locklear both made their first appearances of the season in the match.
For the complete story, visit www.ncataggies.com
Bethune-Cookman Falls to James Madison, 3-0
TAMPA - Krysta Gardner and Janeen Davis each had seven kills Friday in Bethune-Cookman's 3-0 (25-11,25-12,25-21) loss to James Madison Friday at the USF Invitational.
Gardner also had 12 digs for B-CU, now 0-14, while Monica Lowe had 10. Sophomore setter Aubrianna Curtis posted 13 assists and seven digs.
B-CU erased a 16-10 third deficit to tie it at 19-19 on a Davis kill, but James Madison (6-5) scored the next two points and never trailed again.
For the complete story, visit www.bcuathletics.com
Volleyball Sweeps Howard At Colonial Challenge
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -Hampton defeated Howard 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-18) in non-conference action on Friday in the first day of the William & Mary Colonial Challenge at Kaplan Arena.
It was Hampton's first three-set win of the season, and the Lady Pirates (7-7) have now won seven straight meetings against the Lady Bison. The Lady Pirates have also won five of their last seven matches.
Hampton hit .321 in the first set, recording 21 kills and just three errors in 28 total attacks. The Lady Bison were held to a mere .088 hitting percentage, recording seven errors in 34 attacks.
Hampton hit .206 in the second set, with 13 kills and six errors in 34 attacks.
The Lady Pirates hit a staggering .600 in the third set, recording 16 kills and just one error in 25 attacks. Vendula Strakova gave Hampton a 3-1 lead with a kill, but Howard stormed back to take a 6-5 lead. Hampton later led 8-7, before Hampton went on a 4-1 lead to go up 12-9.
Hampton hit .356 for the match, recording 41 kills and just 10 errors in 87 total attacks. The Lady Pirates also held a 9-5 edge over Howard (0-9) in service aces.
Howard had 4.0 blocks to Hampton's 1.0.
Strakova, the reigning MEAC Player of the Week, led the Lady Pirates with 12 kills and nine digs on defense, while hitting .267 and recording two service aces. Krista Kraskura added 10 kills and hit .421 for the match.
Meagan Lagerlef led Howard with seven kills.
For the complete story, visit www.hamptonpirates.com or www.howard-bison.com
UMES Comes Back To Defeat North Texas, Shuts Out Alabama State
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -UMES started the ASU Tournament with a five-set comeback win over North Texas (25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 25-18, 15-13), finishing with a shutout victory over tournament host Alabama State (25-17, 25-15, 25-19) to improve to 12-1, increasing their winning streak to eight matches.
In the first set, kills from Kaveinga Lea'Aetoa and Bridget Ebster-Schwarzenberger gave UMES an early 2-0 lead. A pair of kills from Eboni Godfrey pushed North Texas ahead 4-3, eventually building an 8-5 advantage. The Mean Green went up 17-11 after a pair of Carnae Dillard kills and looked in control of the set. After a pair of Dillard attack errors and a May Allen dump kill, North Texas led 18-13, later 19-14. But the Hawks came alive off the serving of Jessie Vicic, using an ace, a pair of Victoria Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) kills and a Lea'Aetoa kill for a 9-0 run, taking a 23-19 advantage. UMES held off a pair of North Texas kills, with Maline Vaitai blocking Courtney Windham on the final point to secure the comeback, winning 25-21 to go up 1-0.
North Texas started off strong again in the second set: after an Ebster-Schwarzenberger kill, the Mean Green went on a 4-0 run off Godfrey's serving for a 4-1 lead. Williams tried to get UMES back in the set early with strong kills, but North Texas stayed up 11-5 and later led 16-10. At that juncture, an Ndidi Ibe kill and two straight Ebster-Schwarzenberger kills cut UMES's deficit in half to three. But the Mean Green rebuilt its lead to six on a 3-0 run for a 20-14 advantage. Another strong run by Vicic for UMES, starting with a dump kill and later a couple of aces, led the Hawks on a 5-0 run to pull within one. But UMES could not close the gap, getting within one a couple of times but falling short 25-23 for a tie in the match.
Play in the third set started back and forth as North Texas led early 5-4. Karissa Flack was strong in the middle, earning four consecutive kills, earning a fifth after a Carnae Dillard ace, to complete a 6-0 run for an 11-4 Mean Green lead. Kills by Vaitai and Williams brought UMES closer, but a 3-0 run by North Texas, started by another Flack kill, put up the Sun Belt team 14-6. UMES tried to get back into the set but the deficit was too large as the Hawks fell 25-18 in the third game to fall 2-1 in set play.
Vaitai paced UMES in the early going of the fourth set, earning three kills in the first six points to give the Hawks an early 4-2 lead. After a North Texas point, another Vaitai kill and a pair of attack errors gave UMES a 7-3 advantage. Off the serving of Analisse Shannon, the Mean Green won four straight to tie the game at seven. Back and forth play commenced when at 10-10, Ebster-Schwarzenberger earned a kill, followed by an ace by her and a combo block by Lea'Aetoa and Vaitai, led to a 4-0 run and a 14-10 UMES lead. A pair of Dillard kills brought North Texas within two, but the Hawks countered off the serving of Vaitai with four straight points, including a kill and block by Ibe, for a 20-14 lead. A couple of late kills by Ebster-Schwarzenberger contributed to the Hawks winning set four 25-18 and forcing a tiebreak game.
Each side was hitting its mark on attacks early in the final set. At 3-3, a Vaitai kill and Flack attack error pushed UMES ahead 5-3. But the Mean Green countered quickly, tying the set at five after a service error and Dillard kill. After an Ibe kill, a Dillard kill, two Shannon aces and a Flack kill gave North Texas a 9-6 lead. Acting head coach Eric Hammond called timeout for UMES at this juncture. After a Shannon service error, UMES got another rally on Vicic's serving, getting a Williams kill, Flack attack errors, Ebster-Schwarzenberger kill and a Kaci Eaton attack error for an 11-9 lead, capping a 5-0 run. The Hawks countered North Texas points with kills, going up 14-12 after an Ibe kill. After North Texas called timeout and got a Windham kill, Vaitai came through again with a kill in the middle, securing a 15-13 UMES set win and 3-2 match victory.
That night, UMES returned to the Dunn-Oliver Acadome to take on tournament host Alabama State. A pair Williams kills gave the Hawks to early 2-0 advantage. Play went back and forth until at 8-6 UMES, the Hornets won five of the next six points, including three kills from Khyssnee Madison, to push the home team up 11-9. After an exchange of points, an Ibe kill, Williams ace and Lea'Aetoa kill pushed UMES back in front 13-12. The Hornets tied the game after a service error, to which UMES took the next six points, including three kills from Ebster-Schwarzenberger, to lead 19-13. Alabama State cut its deficit in half to 19-16, but a 3-0 run off the serving of Ibe and two late kills from Williams gave UMES the 25-17 set victory to go up 1-0.
At 1-1 in the second game, UMES earned four straight kills, two by Vaitai and two more by Ibe, to surge ahead 5-1. Shortly after, a 3-0 run by UMES, including another each by Vaitai and Ibe, pushed it ahead 9-3. The Hawks continued to dominate the set, as at 11-5 UMES, they rolled off five in a row, with Williams contributing a block and kill, for a 16-5 advantage. A 3-0 run by ASU at that point in the set was countered by a UMES 3-0 run as the Hawks now led 19-9, leading to a 25-15 set victory and 2-0 match lead.
Four Hawks hit over .310 on the day, led by Williams, who finished with 31 kills to hit .362. She was the only Hawk to get double digit kills in each match, earning 12 against ASU. Vaitai finished with 30 kills to hit .344, adding 12 digs. Hitting .316, Ebster-Schwarzenberger concluded with 22 kills, three aces and 16 digs. Ibe had 17 kills combined and hit .344 with a trio of blocks. Vicic finished with 100 total assists, three aces and 13 digs.
Against UMES, North Texas was led by Windham's 19 kills off .500 hitting and three blocks. Flack also had three blocks, adding 13 kills, while Dillard tallied 13 kills and four digs.
Rachel Smith had the most kills for the Hornets, who fell to 0-14, in the late game with nine, adding four digs. Chelsea Scott had six kills, while Khryssnee Madison finished with five.
For the complete story, visit www.umeshawks.com
NSU Falls to Washington State, Air Force
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - A difficult trip out west proved just that on the first day of the Air Force/Colorado Invitational, as the Norfolk State volleyball team dropped a pair of 3-0 matches to Washington State and Air Force Friday at the United States Air Force Academy.
Washington State pulled off the sweep, 25-14, 25-15, 25-13, to improve to 8-2 overall in an early afternoon match at Falcon Court at East Gym. In the last contest of the day, Air Force ran its record to 5-7 with a 25-11, 25-19, 25-14 victory over the Spartans, dropping NSU to 2-10 overall.
Freshman Jessica Johnson had eight kills to lead NSU against Washington State and then seven against Air Force. Senior Charlotte Armstead tallied six kills against the Cougars and led the Spartans in the nightcap with eight. Junior Goda Jankauskaite knocked down eight kills in the latter match, while freshman Darcy Moore posted a combined 45 assists over the two matches.
In the night match with Air Force, Johnson and Jankauskaite each had a pair of kills as the first set began with the teams tied at 6-6. The Falcons, though, used a 6-0 run and a later 7-0 run to stretch the lead to 22-8 and eventually take the set by a 25-11 margin.
The Spartans responded early in the second set to tie it up, 5-5, and then found themselves down by three just a short time later. A 4-1 run tied the score at 10-10, but Air Force stretched the lead back to six, 19-13. Johnson got NSU to within four, 20-16, but the Spartans got no closer the rest of the way.
Then in the third, a 5-0 run for Air Force game the Falcons a 9-4 lead early on. The Spartans used both of their timeouts as Air Force slowly stretched the lead to nine, 18-9. Armstead had a kill and senior Beatriz Ferreira connected on a service ace for an 18-12 Falcon lead, but Air Force ended the match on a 6-1 run.
Air Force hit .492 with just five attack errors on the night and also had a 7-1 advantage in blocks. Felicia Clement led the Falcons with eight kills and four blocks. Hillary Keltner had 27 assists with seven digs and four kills.
The Spartans hit .072 against Air Force with 24 attack errors.
For the complete story, visit www.nsuspartans.com