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PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - With wins over Delaware State and North Carolina A&T Saturday the Hawks continued their record setting start, winning their first seven matches to start the 2015 season. By winning both matches, each one by a 3-0 score, UMES won its second straight home tournament.

Freshman Zuzana Ondruskova (Bilovec, Czech Republic) won All-Tournament MVP for her efforts this weekend. On Saturday alone she tallied 24 kills and 22 digs, giving her 36 and 30, respectively, for the tournament.

Seniors Petra Jerabkova (Prague, Czech Republic) and Andjela Reljic (Novi Sad, Serbia) joined Ondruskova on the All-Tournament team. Jerabkova completed over 90 assists as the primary setter while adding an over .500 kill percentage and 16 digs. Reljic continued to be the team's leader in digs with 46 over three matches.

In the first match the Hawks were in command essentially from start to finish. The visiting Hornets, who had a good weekend of their own with a 2-1 record under their new head coach and UMES alum Whitney Johnson, could not overcome the formidable Hawks, never leading any set past the tenth point. UMES took advantage of several errors to pull ahead in the first set, then used a bevy of kills from Ondruskova, freshman Lucia Babic (Sisak, Croatia) and junior Haley Robinson (Honolulu, Hawaii) to complete the set win.

A kill from freshman Rachel Kayongo (Northridge, Calif.) got the Hawks ahead to set two and they stayed there, using an ace for senior Ashley Smith (Huntley, Ill.) to seal the deal. In the third set, an Ondruskova kill gave the Hawks a five point lead early. The Hornets could only close that deficit to three points the rest of the way, and UMES closed out a 25-17 victory.

North Carolina A&T also was fresh off a win earlier in the day, but the Hawks did well to stop the Aggies' momentum. UMES handed the ball to freshman Marta Klafuric (Donja Lomnica, Croatia) and she promptly answered the call with two aces. The Hawks would storm out to an early lead in set one only to see the visitors storm with a five point rally of their own. Both teams played even until the end of the set, when once again, Klafuric supplied another pair of aces, pushing the Hawks to the win.

After falling behind early in the next set UMES would go on a furious rally with nearly every member of the team contributing. Down 13-9 the Hawks took seven of the next eight points to take the lead, eventually winning 25-22. Set three would be a close battle but another late Hawk rally gave the home team the win. Ondruskova supplied an ace to complete the 3-0 victory.

UMES will host its third and final tournament next weekend, with matches versus North Carolina Central on Friday, followed by Loyola (Md.) and Manhattan on Saturday.

All Tournament Team: Zuzana Ondruskova (UMES) MVP; Petra Jerabkova (UMES); Andjela Reljic (UMES); Brooke Stamnes (NCAT); Jasmine Jackson (DSU); Katie Urycki (Quinnipiac)