Oct. 31, 2010
Box Score
HAMPTON, Va. - Four players recorded double-digit kills led by freshmen Kaveinga Lea'Aetoa and Maline Vaitai (Salt lake City, Utah) with 18 apiece as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore women's volleyball team escaped Hampton's Holland Hall with a 3-2 (22-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-7) win over the Lady Pirates.
UMES dropped the first two games but engineered a strong rally to come from behind to take the match.
Junior Zoe Bowens (Long Beach, Calif.) had 13 kills and redshirt senior Samantha Chukwura (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 10 to help UMES outhit HU, .259-.214. The win moves UMES to 18-10 and 7-1 in the MEAC, while Hampton falls to 6-22 and 2-6.
Vaitai also had 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Freshman Stephanie Sierra (El Paso, Texas) registered her eighth double-double of the year herself with 48 assists and 13 digs.
Junior Rebecca Prado (Annandale, N.J.) tallied a team-high 14 digs and freshman Jingqiao Li (Beijing, China) totaled 13.
In the first game, UMES led 13-10 on a Lea'Aetoa kill but the Lady Pirates came back with an Aaryn Harrison ace and kill to take the lead. UMES tied the game twice more before HU took control.
A Bowens ace cut the Hampton advantage to two at 20-18 and HU error got UMES within one. But that was as close as it would get as the Lady Pirates took the game by three.
Hampton hit .310 in the opener while holding the Hawks to .167.
In Game 2, HU scored the first two points before another Bowens ace knotted the game. A kill and yet another ace by Bowens gave UMES a 4-2 advantage Hampton then rallied to score the next nine of 11 points, a run that was capped by a Joana Kalfinova ace for an 11-4 bulge. Hampton allowed just 12 more points to the Hawks the rest of the way to go up, 2-0.
UMES began its comeback in the third game.
Down, 5-0, the Hawks tied things at 8-8 and were up 10-8 on a Vaitai kill. After a UMES timeout at 22-16, UMES held on as Hampton attempted to close out the match, getting to within a 23-21 margin but kills from Vaitai and Lea'Aetoa sent the match to a fourth game.
The Hawks made quick work of Hampton in the game, hitting a team-best .375 while holding the host to just 0.67 from the floor to set up a deciding fifth game. UMES led the final game, 8-6, at the changeover and used back-to-back bocks from Lea'Aetoa and Sierra to go up, 12-6.
Hampton's Mianna Armstrong's attack error into the net sealed the match for UMES.
The Lady Pirates were led by Harrison with 16 kills. Ivana Saput had 18 digs and Lihi Elkyam recorded 42 assists.
UMES travels to Coppin State Friday for a 7 p.m. match.
