PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball team fell to the Hampton University Pirates and Robert Morris University Colonials on Saturday (Sept. 14) in day two of the Henson's Hawk Invitational.
In the first matchup of the day, that Hawks and Pirates played an epic five set match. The scores were 19-25, 25-17, 25-15, 18-25 and 7-15. Later in the day, Robert Morris topped Eastern Shore 20-25, 22-25 and 18-25.
Maryland Eastern Shore recovered from a slow start against HU to win the second and third set. The turning point in the match came with the Hawks up 18-17 in the fourth set. Senior captain Ivana Blazevic (Zagreb, Croatia) suffered a lower body injury that took her out of the lineup for the majority of the rest of the set. The Pirates capitalized on the moment and went on a run to take the match 3-2.
Sophomore Stella Johnson (Newport News, Virginia) anchored the defense with 20 digs in the contest. Junior Ilina Spasova (Sofia, Bulgaria) led the squad with 13 kills and classmate Anica Jestratijevic (Arandjelovac, Serbia) finished with six aces.
In the nightcap against the RMU, Eastern Shore played with more enthusiasm at the start. They jumped out on the undefeated Colonials and held a 15-10 lead following a kill from sophomore Mauri Carver (Elizabeth City, North Carolina). After that, Robert Morris responded with a 15-5 run to win set number one.
The second set was more of a back-and-forth affair. The Colonials pulled away at the end of the set to lead 23-17 before the Hawks rallied with Johnson on the service line to make the score 23-21. RMU took a timeout and would come out and get two of the next three points to conclude the set.
In the final frame, the Hawks held a 17-14 lead before Robert Morris would rally once again to take the final set. However, a bit of history would give the Maryland Eastern Shore fans a reason to cheer.
Blazevic got her 2,594th assist of her career in the middle of the set to become the Hawks all-time leader in the category. The senior was also named to the all-tournament team for her performance over the past two days. Carver was also named to the all-tournament team after she capped her weekend with a career-high 12 kills against Robert Morris.
"I really think this weekend was big for us because we decided as a team to play with more heart and defend our home court better," head coach Trevor Callarman said. "This is going to be a different team moving forward and I am excited about that because I think this is a championship team."
After a few days off, the Hawks will be back at it next week as they face Saint Peter's on Wednesday (Sept. 18) in Jersey City, New Jersey. Eastern Shore topped SPU 3-0 earlier this season.
They will follow that with another tournament next weekend (Sept. 20-21) in West Hartford, Connecticut. Following that, conference play will begin on Sept. 27 with a matchup at Morgan State.
"When we get into conference play, we will be successful if this team can continue to play with the fire we saw at different points tonight," Callarman said. "And there is no telling what this team can do if we do that."
For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.
