Aug. 29, 2009
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WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Freshman Bella Jade Romero (Arlington, Texas) registered the first double-double of her collegiate career to help the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to a sweep of Rider, 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-15), in the final game of the Tribe Invitational for both teams at Kaplan Arena Saturday.
A setter, Romero tallied 25 assists and 13 digs for UMES as the Hawks improved to 2-2 on the season, dropping Rider to 1-3. Sophomore Christine Edwards (Lakewood, Calif.) paced the offense with 12 kills while adding seven digs. Senior Caylin Woodward (Garden Grove, Calif.) also had a solid all-around match with nine kills, five digs and four assists, hitting at a .471 clip.
UMES never relinquished the lead in the first game and tallied the match's first five of six points, a run capped with a kill from senior Thonya Joseph (Bridgetown, Barbados). The four-point advantage matched the largest the Hawks had throughout the game.
UMES led, 11-7, on an Edwards ace, 15-11 on a Romero ace and 19-15 on a Woodward ace prior to a Rider timeout. The Hawks took the game when a serve from Rider's Amanda Piccolini went out of play.
The Hawks took a 7-2 lead to start the second game on a double block by redshirt junior Samantha Chukwura (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Whitney Johnson (Prince Frederick, Md.). Rider came back to tie things, 7-7, on a string of errors by UMES and an ace from Elyse Grassmuck.
Briana Wallace gave the Broncs the lead at 11-10 on another ace but a pair of Woodward kills later in the game restored some distance between the teams at 15-12 heading into another Rider timeout.
Edwards made it a four-point game after the break and freshman Karin Vikterlof (Orebro, Sweden) eventually finished the game off with an ace and kill in quick succession to put her team up, 2-0.
UMES surrendered the first point of the third game on an attack error by Edwards but got on track quickly and led the way through the rest of the match. The Hawks opened a 7-2 advantage and forced a Rider timeout following three of Edwards' match-high four aces.
UMES led, 16-7, when the Broncs took their second timeout of the game to attempt to slow the Hawks' momentum on the heels of two Johnson aces coupled with three Rider errors.
The Hawks reeled off seven of the next eight points out of the break to extend their lead to 21-9 on a Woodward swing.
Rider's Brittany Hayes closed the gap to 23-13 with a kill of her own, gave the match to UMES with a service error.
Hayes led the Broncs with eight kills; Grassmuck had eight digs to tie for the team high in that category with Amy Jeary.
The Hawks are at the Runnin' Bulldog Classic next weekend (Sept. 5-6) in Boiling Springs, N.C., to play Gardner-Webb and Wofford.
