Nov. 5, 2010
Box Score
BALTIMORE, Md. - Freshman Maline Vaitai (Salt Lake City, Utah) recorded a match-high 13 kills and redshirt senior Samantha Chukwura (Brooklyn, N.Y.) chipped in with 10 as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore women's volleyball team dispatched Coppin State, 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-15) at the Physical Education Complex Friday.
UMES registered its third best hitting percentage of the season at .360 while needing just one hour, 11 minutes to defeat the Eagles. With the win, the Hawks have all but assured themselves of their fourth consecutive MEAC Northern Division title, improving to 19-10 and 8-1 in the league. The loss for Coppin State, which was held to just .058 from the floor, eliminates it from advancing to the MEAC Tournament later this month at the Physical Education Complex.
Chukwura hit.692 for the match and Vaitai .478 as UMES had little trouble with the host Eagles.
Junior Zoe Bowens (Long Beach, Calif.) had nine kills seven digs and four service aces and freshman Kaveinga Lea'Aetoa (Salt Lake City, Utah) pitched in with nine kills, three digs and two block assists.
Sophomore Stephanie Sierra (El Paso, Texas) tallied 34 of the team's 41 assists and junior Rebecca Prado (Annandale, N.J.) had a match-best 11 digs.
Coppin State scored the first three points in the first game but UMES reeled off the next five on three Eagles' errors, a Vaitai kill and a Bowens ace to send the Hawks on their way.
UMES later led 10-6 on a Lea'Aetoa kill and another Vaitai kill forced a Coppin State timeout at 15-9. The Eagles pulled to within 16-11 with a Vanity Massey kill but got no closer in the game. A Bowens kill off of a blocking error by CSU put UMES up, 1-0.
Tied, 2-2, early in the second game, UMES used an 8-3 run to open a 10-5 advantage. The stretch included kills from three different players as well as an ace by Sierra.
A Vaitai kill to make it 21-9 triggered a UMES timeout as the Hawks received a kill each from Vaitai and Bowens to go along with Coppin State attack errors to take the second game.
UMES never trailed in the final game, leading 16-11 on a Sierra kill prior to a timeout. UMES pushed the lead to 21-14 on a Lea'Aetoa kill and closed out the match on consecutive kills from Bowens.
Massey each had seven kills for Coppin State. Haley Beechler also had a team-high 21 assists and seven digs.
UMES closes the regular season at Howard on Sunday at 3 p.m.
