Box Score | Updated Bracket | Championship Central


DOVER, Del., Nov. 18, 2022 – Maryland Eastern Shore swept Norfolk State in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Volleyball Championship on Friday at Delaware State’s Memorial Hall Gym, winning by set scores of 26-24, 27-25 and 25-15.
 
The fifth-seeded Hawks (9-17) advanced to Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded Coppin State.
 
This was Maryland Eastern Shore’s first MEAC tournament win since 2017.
 
Derionah Abner led the Hawks with 10 kills, hitting .381 after committing just two errors on 21 swings. MEAC All-Rookie honoree Nkemjika Ikemefuna added nine kills and six digs on .444 hitting, while Ranyla Griggs chipped in nine kills.
 
The Hawks hit .200 for the match, while holding the Spartans to .136.
 
Norfolk State had swept the regular-season series against the Hawks, with both matches going the distance. In the first set, that competitive atmosphere was evident – even though UMES jumped out to a 16-11 lead after a kill from Abner, the Spartans battled back to tie the set at 21-21 on an Alondra Hernandez ace.
 
Carla Hernandez netted a kill later in the set to tie things at 24-24, but Griggs and Abner answered withkills to give the Hawks the opening set.
 
The second set was more of the same; after a Griggs kill put UMES up 13-10, the Spartans battled back to tie things at 13-all. The Hawks later opened a 23-20 lead on an Isil Yilmaz ace, but Norfolk State, the No. 4 seed, went on a 5-1 run to take a 25-24 lead and force set point.
 
The Hawks called timeout, then scored the next three points – including back-to-back Ikemefuna kills – to take a 2-0 match lead.
 
The third set saw UMES hold a slim 14-12 lead after a kill from Raquel Lightbourn, but the Hawks scored the next five points to go up 19-12 after an ace from Ikemefuna, and that momentum carried UMES the rest of the way to the straight-set victory.
 
Hernandez had nine kills to lead the Spartans (7-18).
 
 
About the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is in its 52^nd year of intercollegiate competition with the 2022-23 academic school year. Located in Norfolk, Va., the MEAC is made up of eight outstanding historically black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State University.