WASHINGTON, D.C. — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks volleyball team dropped their quarterfinal match 3-1 (21-25, 23-25, 27-25, 19-25) against the North Carolina A&T Aggies in the MEAC Tournament on Friday evening (Nov. 22).

The Hawks (12-19) showed a strong effort and resilience throughout the match as each set came down to the wire. The match had 36 ties and 15 lead changes.

Eastern Shore started the match by scoring the first four points. The Aggies would fight back and held a 20-18 lead late. Following a service error from N.C. A&T, junior Tatjana Trifkovic (Belgrade, Serbia) got a kill to tie the set. North Carolina A&T would respond and get five of the next six points to win the frame.

In the next set, the teams went back and forth for the majority of the frame. The Shore held a 22-21 lead but would get an error that would tie the set and the Aggies capitalized on the mistake to take three of the last four points to take a 2-0 lead.

In the third set, Maryland Eastern Shore had a late lead again as a solo block from senior Lidia Chery (Garfield, New Jersey) put them up 21-18. After a timeout, the tide changed as A&T had match point at 24-23. The Hawks would fight back and end the set with a kill from sophomore Alexis Lee (Wilmington, Delaware) and a block from Trifkovic and sophomore Mauri Carver (Elizabeth City, North Carolina).

In the final set, the Hawks trailed early. They would come back and hold a 14-13 lead after a kill from Lee. After that North Carolina A&T went on a 7-1 run to gain control of the set. Eastern Shore would not go quietly but they would not get closer than four after the Aggie run.

Lee had a team-high 13 kills, while junior Ilina Spasova (Sofia, Bulgaria) finished with a double-double as she had 10 kills and 14 digs. Sophomore Stella Johnson (Newport News, Virginia) had 17 digs and finished the season with 486 digs, which was second-most all-time in school history for a season.

Senior Ivana Blazevic (Zagreb, Croatia) concluded her Hawk career with 35 assists and eight digs. Chery had five kills and two blocks in her final match for Eastern Shore.

"I think we played well tonight and on any given night it can go either way and tonight was A&T's night," head coach Trevor Callarman said. "This program is trending in the right direction and this team always stayed strong all season."

For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.