EAST LANSING, Michigan- In the final match before conference play, Maryland Eastern Shore faced their toughest test yet against the Michigan State Spartans. The No. 22 ranked team in the nation lived up to their billing, defeating the Hawks in straight sets (11-25, 17-25, 15-25) at Jenison Field House Saturday.

With the defeat, the Hawks complete the first half of the season with a record of 7-8. The Spartans improved to 10-1.

Maryland Eastern Shore was led by a solid all-around performance from freshman setter Ivana Blazevic (Zagreb, Croatia), who assisted on 18 kills while going 3-for-4 on attacks and supplying four digs. Sophomore Koya Sowells (Missouri City, Texas) led in digs with seven and freshman Iva Vujosevic (Bar, Montenegro) recorded a team high seven kills. Senior Mere Serea (Suva, Fiji) participated on five of the Hawks' six blocks, including a pair of solos.

Michigan State received 15 kills from Autumn Bailey, 11 digs from Abby Monson and five blocking assists from Alyssa Garvelink.

The Hawks took the first point of the match off an attack error, but Michigan State used a trio of four point runs to take command of the first set, eventually winning by 14.

In the second set The Shore hung tough, fighting the Spartans for every point early on. An ace from junior Kirstin Fink (Tucson, Arizona) gave the Hawks a three point lead to force a Spartans tournament at the 11-8 mark. But the Spartans rallied out of that timeout to gradually force a 13-13 tie, and then used a five point swing to take the lead for good. Michigan State won the set by eight to take a 2-0 lead at intermission.

Both teams battled back and forth early in set three, but another five point Spartan run gave the hometown team an advantage they would not relinquish, and a ten point victory sealed the match for the Michigan State.

Conference play begins with another challenge as Maryland Eastern Shore heads to Washington, D.C. to face Howard. A 7 p.m. first is scheduled at Burr Gymnasium.