Sept. 28, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. - With three players hitting double digits in kills, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women's volleyball team topped North Carolina Central University (NCCU) 3-1 (25-13, 23-25, 25-14, 25-21) in the final day of their six match weekend.

The Lady Hawks have been busy. Winning two matches on Friday, three on Saturday and their battle with NCCU on Sunday, they now boast a 13-6 record.

Caylin Woodward (Garden Grove, Calif./Pacifica H.S.) had her third double-double of the season with 11 kills and 10 assists. Christine Edwards (Lakewood, Calif./S. Joseph) led the Lady Hawks attack with a game-high 16 kills and Whitney Johnson (Prince Frederick, Md./Albany) finished with 14 kills respectively. Christina Estebané (El Paso, Texas/Midland College) just missed a double-double with a game-high 39 assists and nine digs and Leah Amundson (Tuscon, Ariz./Arizona Western) picked up a game-high 14 digs.

Despite leading the entire first set, UMES could not pull away from NCCU, who tied set two for the tenth time on a kill by Shaina Pryor. The Eagles then went on a 7-2 run to go up 20-10. Both teams battled back and forth. It was a kill by Edwards that started the Lady Hawks 9-2 run to put UMES up 23-22. But three errors gave the set to the Eagles.

UMES never fell behind again. NCCU tied the fourth set six times before the Lady Hawks pulled away on a kill by Johnson and went on a 6-2 run to end the match. The Eagles were led by Avaniki Campbell who put down 10 kills. Ashley Shade had 22 assists and Rachel Lloyd picked up 10 digs. NCCU is now 4-17.

The Lady Hawks are preparing for their first home matches. The first is against Morgan State on October 3 at 7 p.m., quickly followed by rival Delaware State on October 5 at 3 p.m. Morgan is 1-16 this season, but Delaware State (7-7) looks to be the Lady Hawks biggest obstacle in their run for the Mid-Eastern Conference (MEAC) Northern Division title.