Nov. 7, 2010
Box Score
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Tosin Elebute and Keri Partridge recorded 15 and 10 kills, for Howard as the Bison topped the University of Maryland Eastern Shore women's volleyball team, 3-0 (30-28, 25-18, 25-16), at Burr Gymnasium Sunday.
The loss for UMES (19-11, 8-2 MEAC) marks the first time it has been swept in conference since Oct. 14, 2006 against North Carolina A&T in Orangeburg, S.C. The loss also means the Hawks must wait to see its seed for the upcoming MEAC Tournament. Howard improves to 8-18 and 5-4 in the league.
The Bison outhit UMES.320-.079 on the day. UMES tallied 25 errors to just seven for HU.
Junior Zoe Bowens (Long Beach, Calif.) led the Hawks' 33-kill attack with 10 and freshman Malien Vaitai (Salt Lake City, Utah) chipped in with eight.
Junior Rebecca Prado (Annandale, N.J.) had a match-high 14 digs and sophomore Stephanie Sierra (El Paso, Texas) had 27 assists.
UMES led, 14-7, early the first game after a Chukwura kill forced a timeout. Howard closed the gap to just three at 18-15 on a vaitai error before a UMES timeout.
UMES then pushed it to 24-18 on a Vaitai kill but couldn't finish things as the Bison fought off six game points and eventually took the game 30-28.
Howard led virtually the entire second game. UMES got within one point on a Prado ace at 13-12 and two at 17-15 on a Lea'Aetoa block but the Bison carried the play. An Elebute kill gave HU game point at 24-18 and a d'Artois ace sealed the game.
The Bison hit .333 in the second game on 14 kills and three errors in 33 attacks while UMES was held to .089 in the first game and .033 in the second.
The Bison had their best hitting performance in the final game. HU hit .391 on 10 kills and one error 23 attacks and UMES hit .115.
UMES took a 9-7 advantage on consecutive aces by Bowens and was up 13-8 before the Bison came storming back to score the next 11 of 12 points to take the lead for good. The Bison closed the match with a block by Gabrielle Martin and Taylor Johnson for the win.
UMES is off until the first round of the MEAC Tournament on Nov. 19 at Coppin State's Physical Education Complex. The seedings and opponent will be announced at a later date.
