Sept. 3, 2005

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) volleyball team opened their season with a 3-1 loss to Canisius on Friday in the first match of the Western New York Invitational, 30-27, 30-23, 29-31, 30-18. The Lady Hawks were shutout 3-0 in their second contest of the day, losing their matchup to Buffalo 30-21, 30-20, 30-22.

Canisius (1-3) jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the first match before UMES (0-2) scored a 31-29 win in the third game. But the Griffs responded in the fourth game, closing out the match 30-18 to seal the win. Junior transfer Leah Amundson (Tuscon, Ariz./Arizona Western C.C.) posted a double-double with a match high 21 kills and 14 digs, while Maja Baltic (Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro/KBG) added 12 kills. Freshman Yael Rozner (Haifa, Israel/Kiriat Haim H.S.) had 41 assists and a team high 16 digs for the Lady Hawks.

Aislinn Hayes led Canisius with 17 kills and 12 digs, while Mary Boller added 14 kills and two block assists.

UMES opened their match against Buffalo (2-1) with a kill by Rozner, but the Bulls took a quick 2-1 lead in game one and never trailed after that. Buffalo won the second game after building an 11-6 lead thanks to four Lady Hawk attack errors, but the maroon and grey threatened in the third game as Baltic served five straight points to close within six points of the lead. But mistakes proved costly to UMES as the Bulls took the final game thanks to two straight attack errors by the Lady Hawks.

The maroon and grey were led by Adora Luster's seven kills. Amundson added six kills to go with a match-high 14 digs, while sophomore Likica Grceva (Natick, Mass./Natick H.S.) chipped in with 13 digs. Jenna Mape had 14 kills to lead Buffalo while Nikki Morzenti finished with seven kills and 13 digs.

UMES will play in two matches on the final day of the Western New York Invitational on Saturday, beginning with a contest against Navy at 10 a.m.