Aug. 27, 2010
Towson Box Score | South Carolina State Box Score
HAMPTON, Va. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore women's volleyball team dropped a pair of season-opening matches at Hampton's Tiny Laster Memorial Tournament Friday, falling in five games to Towson and South Carolina State at Holland Hall.
The Hawks lost to the Tigers 25-17, 25-21, 13-25, 20-25, 8-15, and to the Bulldogs, 28-26, 25-22, 17-25, 12-25, 12-15.
In the first match of the day, junior Zoe Bowens (Long Beach, Calif.) registered a career-high 19 kills and added nine digs while freshman Maline Vaitai (Salt Lake City, Utah) also chipped in with 19 and five, respectively, in her first collegiate match.
Towson, which improved to 2-0 with a sweep of SCSU earlier in the day, come from behind to top UMES, winning the final three games. The Tigers outhit the Hawks, .219-171, for the match.
With the loss, UMES fell to 1-10 all-time against Towson since the series began in 1986.
Sophomore Stephanie Sierra (El Paso, Texas) ran the offense well, contributing 39 assists and had three digs and Kaveingna Lea'Aetoa (Salt Lake City, Utah) turned in a solid debut match with seven kills two digs and three of the teams 13 block assists. UMES outblocked Towson, 8.5-6.5.
The Hawks cruised to 2-0 lead committing only nine errors in that span but dropped the final three games with a combined 18.
Three players tallied double-digit kills for Towson, led by Katy Buck, who had 15. Lauren Tonokawa led all players with 13 digs.
Against South Carolina State, Vaitai picked up a double-double of a team-high 17 kills and game-high-tying 14 digs, despite the loss. Once again, UMES took the first two games of the match, only to falter down the stretch.
Bowens collected 14 kills and eight digs. Sierra had another 39 assists, 12 digs and four kills and Jingquiao Li (Beijing, China) had 11 digs.
South Carolina State (1-1) got 18 kills from Desire Waller, 14, from Shabree Roberson and 13 from Elizabeth Webb. Roberson also had 14 digs for a double-double.
UMES looks to rebound Saturday when the Hawks play Wofford (9 a.m.) and Hampton (3 p.m.).
