Box Score | Championship Central


WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 22, 2019—Asha Johnson and Myca Mitchell each had seven kills to lead a balanced Howard attack on Friday, as the defending champion Bison swept South Carolina State (25-12, 25-23, 25-18) in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Volleyball Championship at Burr Gymnasium.
 
The Bison (18-12) advance to Saturday’s 5 p.m. semifinal against Coppin State.
 
Seven Howard players recorded at least four kills in the match, and First Team All-MEAC honoree Kira Porter went error-free in five swings, recording four kills to hit .800. Johnson was also error-free, racking up 12 attacks and hitting .583 for the match.
 
“I thought our team played pretty well,” Howard head coach Shaun Kupferberg said. “It’s been quite a few days since we last played; we’ve had a little bit of a layoff and I think we were able to transfer some of the stuff we’ve worked on in practice into the game.”
 
The Bison, the No. 1 seed out of the Northern Division, scored the first nine points of the match to take control early and set the tone in taking the first set. Howard held the Bulldogs to a negative hitting percentage (-.190) in the opening set.
 
That momentum carried into the second set, and the Bison found themselves up 17-9 late in the set. But the Southern Division No. 4 seed out of Orangeburg, S.C. mounted a charge, going on a 12-3 run to cut the lead to 21-20 after Alexus Holt and Aundrea Boyland paired on a block.
 
Ana Williams and Kayla Diaz paired on a block of their own on the next point to stop the run, and Howard went on to take the second set 25-23.
 
South Carolina State held an early 6-4 lead in the third set, before the Bison responded with an 8-1 run to take a 12-7 lead. The Bulldogs fought back yet again, cutting the lead to 15-14 before the Bison ended the set with a 10-4 run, clinching the match on a kill from Johnson.
 
“I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Kupferberg said. “There’s not really a lot I can do at this point [in the season], just hope that the players keep doing the things they need to do, playing smart, keeping errors low and staying aggressive on the court.”
 
Howard hit .275 as a team, including a match-best .348 in the first set, and held an 8.0-4.0 edge in blocks. The Bison also had eight service aces on the afternoon. South Carolina State (0-29) hit .089 for the match.
 
Holt led the Bulldogs with 15 kills.