Sept. 20, 2009
Box Score
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Senior Whitney Johnson (Prince Frederick, Md.) recorded a season-high 26 kills to help the University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball team outlast Youngstown State, 3-2 (20-25, 28-26, 23-25, 25-21, 20-18), in a thriller to open Day Two at the Pitt Blue and Gold Tournament at Fitzgerald Field House Sunday.
Senior Caylin Woodward (Garden Grove, Calif.) tallied 13 kills and a match-high 21 digs and freshman Bella Jade Romero (Arlington, Texas) had 64 assists and a 12 digs for a pair of double-doubles. It was the third and fourth time, respectively; each accomplished the feat this season. The Hawks now have nine double-doubles on the year.
Redshirt junior Samantha Chukwura (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the third UMES player in double digits in kills with 10 while senior Thonya Joseph (Bridgetown, Barbados) and sophomore Zoe Bowens (Long Beach, Calif.) had nine apiece to move UMES to 9-4. Youngstown State fell to 2-9.
Freshman Karin Vikterlof (Orebro, Sweden) chipped in with a 14 digs for the Hawks, who won the second and fifth games in extra points. UMES staved off two match points in the deciding game only to close the match on consecutive block assists by Romero and Joseph.
After dropping the opening set, the Hawks rebounded to take the second despite trailing by as many as four points in the early going, 7-3 and 10-6. Romero knotted the game at 14 with a kill from Johnson and UMES later earned a 20-18 advantage on a ball-handling error from YSU's Dani Soubliere.
The Penguins then put together a 6-3 run to get a 24-23 lead, but a Woodward kill tied it at 24.
Down, 26-25, Joseph and Johnson tallied the games final three points for the win.
UMES trailed by as many as six at 17-11 in the third game, but engineered a 9-2 run to take the lead a 20-19 prior to a Youngstown State timeout. The Penguins, though, came out of the break to score five-of-seven points and secure the game and a 2-1 lead.
UMES forced a fifth game with a late run in the fourth. The Hawks closed the game on a 6-2 spurt, which included kills from Joseph, Johnson and Woodward to go along with back-to-back service aces by sophomore Rebecca Prado (Annandale, N.J.).
The Hawks scored the first five of six points in the fifth game and led, 12-11, until a kill from Suzanne Lasseigne tied things at 12. At 14-12, the Penguins took a timeout but couldn't put the match away and UMES hung tough to eventually earn the victory on the block assists by Romero and Joseph.
Youngstown had three players with double-digit kills and was led by Ruth Boscaljon with 15. Brittany Gove (14) and Haley Kapferer (11) were the others. Laurie Shives had a team-best 19 digs while Soubliere has 50 assists.
YSU outhit UMES, .243-.230, and outblocked the Hawks by a 14.0-10.0 margin.
UMES closes the tournament against Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. Sunday.
