DENVER, Colorado — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball team suffered two setbacks Friday (Sept. 14). In the morning, they fell in four sets to Navy (11-25, 26-24, 14-25, 16-25) in Denver's Hamilton Gymnasium. Later in the afternoon they were swept by Air Force (9-25, 23-25, 23-25) on the academy grounds outside Colorado Springs.

The defeats drop the Hawks' record to 3-9 on the season.

"Today was a tough day, but we will move on." Hawks coach Trevor Callarman said. "Tomorrow is an opportunity to play better and earn wins against tough competition."

The highlight of the day was the gutsy second set win over Navy. Rallying after a 14 point loss the Hawks battled for every point, taking the last three volleys at the end. A block from freshman Alexis Lee (Wilmington, Delaware) sealed the win.

Although The Shore would drop the next two sets, several players finished the match with noteworthy stat totals. Senior Lucia Babic (Sisak, Croatia) earned a match high 14 kills and junior Ivana Blazevic (Zagreb, Croatia) finished with a match high 32 assists. Senior Koya Sowells (Missouri City, Texas) upped her personal record from 17 digs - set at Lehigh last Tuesday (Sept. 11) - with 18 against the Midshipmen.

"I worked hard after that first set." Sowells said. "I was a serving target and that gets pretty tiring. But once you get under control, everything fell into place. Our team will learn from this experience, and we will take those lessons into tomorrow."

At Air Force, junior Lidia Chery (Garfield, New Jersey) led the offense with eight kills and a .467 attack percentage. She also helped on the block, where the Hawks outpaced the Falcons nine to eight. Freshman Mauri Carver (Elizabeth City, North Carolina) led the way with five block assists, followed by Chery's four - including a solo - and three assists each from Lee and Babic.

"We built some momentum and didn't give up." Chery said. "We proved to ourselves that we win as long as we stay consistent and work as a team. There were moments like that today where everything clicked, but it came a little too late today. We will stay confident, bring a new attitude into tomorrow, trust each other and get two wins."  

The Hawks also got a defensive boost from freshman Stella Johnson (Newport News, Virginia), who supplied 11 digs against Air Force.

Two more matches are on schedule for Saturday (Sept. 15). Maryland Eastern Shore will face Denver at 1 p.m. Eastern, following by a 5 p.m. finale against Samford. Both matches will take place at Hamilton Gymnasium.