Final Stats

CEDAR CITY, UTAH - Despite a double-double effort by junior Ashley Smith (Huntley, Ill.), the University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to the University of California at Riverside on Friday afternoon at Centrum Arena. The contest was the opener for the Hawks in the Southern Utah University Tournament, where they are scheduled to play two more matches over the course of the next two days.

Smith led the charge for the Hawks in the match with 11 kills and 16 digs to total her first double-double of the year. She was one of three Hawks will double-digit dig tallies as senior Ksenia Sukhareva (Moscow, Russia) and sophomore Allison Woods (Magnolia, Tex.) had 14 and 11 kills, respectively. The maroon and gray hit just .103 in the match and tied UCR with six total blocks.

UMES (1-4) fell in the opening set to UC Riverside (1-3), 25-13, as the women struggled on the attack with eight errors. The Hawks trailed by just five midway through the set, but a 10-3 run by UCR cemented the opening set loss. Junior Ashley Smith (Huntley, Ill.) had team-highs in kills (three) and digs (five) in the frame.

The second set was completely dominated by the Hawks, where they raced out to a big lead and never looked back. Senior Haley Robinson (Honolulu, Hi.) ripped five kills in the set, while senior Ksenia Sukhavera (Moscow, Russia) pounded out three of her own. Following a kill by UCR's Tyler Dorsey to make the score 14-13, UMES reeled off seven straight points to stretch the game wide open.

The 21-13 lead held true as two kills by Sukhareva and one by freshman Kirstin Fink (Tuscon, Ariz.) evened the match at one all.

UMES used a kill by Sukhareva to take an early 6-5 lead in the third set, but UCR went on to score 10 answered points to take a 15-6 advantage. The Hawks would use three UCR attack errors and one kill by freshman Alana Polk (Houston, Tex.) to bring the score to within five, but the Highlanders were too tough down the stretch. UC Riverside used five kills by Bri Holmes to take the third set, 25-18.

UC Riverside used a 25-17 victory in the fourth set to take the match. The win proved to be their first of the season.

UMES will continue play in the tournament at 6 p.m. ET when the Hawks faceoff with Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference South Division rival, Savannah State. The Tigers fell earlier in the day to the tournament hosts, Southern Utah, in three sets. UMES has not lost a contest to SSU in over ten seasons as the Hawks hold a 3-0 record during that span.

For complete recaps, results and news of Hawk athletics, please visit www.umeshawks.com