CHICAGO, Illinois — Maryland Eastern Shore struggled again in their nightcap match with the Bryant Bulldogs. Early runs by Bryant was the key as the Hawks were swept for the second straight match (11-25, 20-25, 16-25) to round out the weekend at the UIC Invitational.  

For the second straight match, senior Lucia Babic (Sisak, Croatia) led the contest in kills with 14 over 38 attempts. Babic also tied freshman Mauri Carver (Elizabeth City, North Carolina) with a pair of block assists.

Other top performers include junior Ivana Blazevic (Zagreb, Croatia), who had 20 assists and ripped three consecutive aces in the third set. Senior Maja Jankovic (Ruma, Serbia) tallied nine digs for the Hawks.

Babic was named to the UIC Invitational All-Tournament team after registering 4.4 kills and 1.6 digs per set. She currently stands 55 short of 1,000 kills for her career. Sophomore Sola Okesanjo (Chicago, Illinois) had a nice homecoming at UIC, earning 12 kills and four block participations.

"We faced tough teams this weekend that gave us many different challenges." Hawks Coach Trevor Callarman said. "Lucia deserved her all-tournament honor, and Sola played great on home turf. Our newcomers also learned some valuable experience which will help them moving forward."

Bryant (2-1) received 27 assists and seven kills from Kirstyn Sperry and a double-double of 13 kills and 10 digs from Kristin Kingi.

The Bulldogs blasted out of the gates in each set. That started with a 9-1 run in the first set, followed by a 11-5 start in set two and 11-4 in set three.

The Hawks (0-3) will head to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for the Carolina Classic next weekend.  

UIC Invitational All-Tournament Team
Ali Witt – UIC (MVP)
Tatyana Ndekwe – UIC
Manuela Conte – UIC
Kirstyn Sperry – Bryant
Caroline Kennedy – Bryant
Kalina Smith – Central Michigan
Lucia Babic – Maryland Eastern Shore