Oct. 6, 2007
Box Score
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - It took over two and half hours but a marathon match between the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and Morgan State University (MSU) ended with the Hawks taking a 3-2 win and with it improving to a dominating 5-0 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and 16-3 over all.
They have now won 14 straight matches.
The game was one for the ages as two games went to extra points and used every time out but one (19 of 20 were used.) UMES took game one 31-29 before Morgan captured game two 32-30. Morgan had a dominating game three, winning 30-22 but UMES rebounded to take game four 30-27 and then the match, winning game five 15-11.
Statistically many players did well as the reigning two-time MEAC Player of the Week Whitney Johnson (Prince Frederick, Md./Univ. at Albany) tallied 30 kills and Morgan's Esther Johnson posted 30 digs. For the second time this season UMES had two players record triple doubles in the same match as Christina Estebane' (El Paso, Texas/Midland College) and Caylin Woodward (Garden Grove, Calif./Pacifica H.S.) both accomplished the prestigious feat. Estebane' posted 55 assists, 11 kills and 28 digs and Woodward tallied 12 kills, 10 assists and 22 digs.
They both had a triple double earlier this season against Providence College, which UMES also won 3-2.
Morgan State was no slouch either. Johnson's 30 digs were part of a tremendous defensive effort. The Lady Bears also tallied 11 team blocks with Jeniqua Moran and Vashaye Ellegood having six block assists each. Johnson had a double double adding 25 kills and Ivanti Bush, making her return to the court after an extended absence do to injury, surprised the Hawks with 22 kills.
"Our game plan did not have Bush playing," said Head Coach Don Metil. "But we rebounded and made some adjustments. She is a great player and she hurt us today and helped make it the exciting match it was."
Holiday Eller (Minnetonka, Minn../St. Benilde-St. Margaret's H.S.) was also in double digits kills for UMES as she had 15. Moran had the same amount for MSU.
Despite dropping game three UMES started their momentum there. UMES got six straight points on Woodward's serve, taking it from 27-17, ten down to 27-22, cutting it in half.
Game four was back and forth but the Hawks took a 12-11 and never let the Bears lead the rest of the way. Morgan tied it three times, the last at 20-20, and UMES went on to close out the match on a Woodward kill from Estebane'.
The story of the game was strengths vs. strengths. Morgan is a solid hitting team and hit .218 as a team, pretty good against the Hawks, who dug 93 balls as a team. UMES however is the nation's best serving team and they posted nine total aces, four form Estebane'. The Hawks hit .184 collectively as Morgan dug 101 balls.
Johnson hit .268 for the match, slightly below her average. She took 71 swings and committed 11 errors. Morgan's big hitter Bush hit .215, many times dumping over the Hawks' block, catching them off guard.
UMES got better each game against the Bears while MSU fell off in games four and five (.205 and .091 respectively).
"We didn't play bad at all," said Metil. Our numbers shouldn't be as good against a team that is as good as Morgan, they make you make mistakes. However, I am really impressed with our composure. That is what won us the match. We have a young team with just one senior and the attitude it took to not get down when we were trailing 2-1 and to come back and win is huge. I am proud of them. We have to keep that composure tomorrow."
UMES travels to play Delaware State tomorrow at 5:00 pm in Dover, Del. That is another tough MEAC match up for the Hawks. They return home on the 12th of this month to host Hampton and kick-off Hawk Hysteria, the event formerly known as Midnight Madness.
