UMES' 10-match winning streak came to an end on Thursday after the Hawks fell to CSU Bakersfield 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 25-15) in the first match of the Roadrunner Invite.  UMES fells to 14-2 on the year while CSUB  improved to 4-7.

In addition, UMES 10-match winning streak against road tournament hosts also ended with the defeat.

Emily Shannon began the first set with an ace as she started UMES on a 3-0 run.  At 5-2 however, CSUB took four straight to take a 6-5 lead.  After the Hawks regained the lead to go up 7-6 on a service error and Shannon kill, a 3-0 CSUB run was countered by a 3-0 UMES run to put the Hawks up 10-9.  Back and forth play commenced when at 13-13, the Roadrunners took four straight, capped by a Fernanda Goncalves ace, for a 17-13 advantage.  The Hawks clawed back in with a 4-0 run, ended on a Shannon kill, to tie the game at 17.  But CSUB took six of the next seven points, and despite two late kills from Bridget Ebster-Schwarzenberger, UMES fell in the set 25-21.

A service error and Victoria Williams kill gave the Hawks an early 2-0 lead in the second set, going to 2-2 after a pair of CSUB points.  Each side exchanged points early when after a Jessie Vicic ace, the Roadrunners took five of the next six points for a 13-11 lead.  At 15-12 CSUB, a Maline Vaitai kill and a block and kill from Ndidi Ibe tied the set at 15.  Later after a 3-0 CSUB run, UMES called timeout down 20-18.  The Hawks responded with three straight points, ending with kills from Shannon and Williams, to go up 21-20.  After going back and forth to a tie game at 23, Vaitai earned a kill then blocked an attack from Debora Araujo to win the set for UMES 25-23 and even up the match.

The third set started roughly for the Hawks as CSUB used an early 4-0 run to go up 7-2.  A Vicic kill followed by an Ibe one pulled UMES within three, but CSUB again led by five two points later.  The Roadrunners used runs of 4-0 and 6-0 to build an 11-point advantage at 21-10.  Two late kills by Ebster-Schwarzenberger and a Vaitai ace were not enough as UMES fell in set three 25-15 to go down in the match 2-1.

Another early CSUB run gave the home team an early 7-3 edge in the fourth set.  At 8-4, UMES battled back by taking four of the next five points, including a Vaitai kill and Vicic ace, to pull within one at 9-8.  But the Roadrunners responded with six points in a row off the serving of Sophie Flemon to go up 15-8.  UMES could not make up the deficit and fell to CSUB in the fourth set 25-15, suffering a 3-1 match defeat.

Ebster-Schwarzenberger led UMES with 12 kills.  Shannon earned a career-high eight kills with an ace.  Williams had seven kills and a block, while Vicic had 29 assists, three aces and a team-high six digs.

Araujo had 14 kills for the Roadrunners, adding six digs and three blocks.  Molly O'Hagan had 10 kills and five blocks.

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