Box Score

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – Picked to finish atop the MEAC Northern Division, Maryland Eastern Shore proved too tough for the Norfolk State volleyball team in a 3-0 loss for the Spartans in the Peaky's North/South UMES Hawk Invitational Saturday afternoon at the W.P. Hytche Center.

UMES ran its record to 11-9 as the Hawks down NSU, 25-18, 25-20, 25-15. The loss, NSU's fourth in a row, dropped the Spartans' record to 5-13.

Junior Nicole Kessner had 17 assists and was the team's leading offensive producer with eight kills. Freshman Arielle Knafel had seven kills, while rookie Noelle Eagles contributed nine digs.

UMES was led by Zoe Bowens with 12 kills and Kaveinga Lea'Aetoa with nine. Stephanie Sierra had a double-double with 28 assists and 11 digs, both team highs.

Sophomore Charlotte Armstead was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The Hawks hit .308 for the match, compared to just .044 for the Spartans. NSU totaled slightly more digs than UMES, 30-28, while the Hawks had the edge in service aces, 7-5. Both teams had five blocks on the day.

NSU won three of the match's first four points in the first set, but a 6-0 run by the Hawks gave them the advantage right back at 7-3. Freshman Mykal Vailu'u and junior Jasmine Frazier posted back-to-back kills to cut the deficit to two at 8-6, but the Hawks kept NSU at bay and eventually went up by six at 16-10.

Frazier and Knafel teamed for a block to cut the lead to three at 18-15, but the Spartans could not answer the rest of the way as UMES went on to win the first set, 25-18.

Sophomore Ellica Morris added a pair of kills in between a kill by Kessner as NSU opened a 3-0 lead to start the second set. That lead dissipated into a 5-4 deficit following a 4-0 run by the Hawks, but a service ace by Armstead in between two kills by Knafel got NSU the lead back at 7-5. Frazier landed a kill and Vailu'u hit back-to-back service aces for an 11-7 lead.

After the Hawks called a timeout down by four at that point, UMES quickly turned it around, using a pair of 4-0 runs to take the lead back a short time later at 16-14. Knafel and Frazier blocked a UMES attack for a 19-17 Hawk lead, but that two-point deficit was as close as NSU got the rest of the way as the Hawks took the second set, 25-20.

The teams went back and forth in the early part of the third set, but eventually the Hawks pulled out to a four-point lead at 10-6, which forced NSU to call a timeout. A kill by Knafel and an attack error on UMES got the Spartans to three at 13-10, but a 4-0 run a little later pushed the Hawks' lead to seven at 18-11. UMES cruised the rest of the way and won the third set, 25-15.

The Spartans will kick off conference play Monday at 6 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall against Florida A&M.