BALTIMORE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball team fell to the Coppin State University Eagles 3-1 (15-25, 28-30, 25-19 and 22-25) on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 29) in their second conference match of the season.

"This was a hard fought match that could have went either way," head coach Trevor Callarman said. "I definitely saw some things we can build on and if we continue to communicate along with minimizing a few errors, we will get W's real soon."

After dropping the first set, the Hawks (5-12, 0-2 MEAC) responded in the second. Eastern Shore stood a point away from victory after a block from senior Lidia Chery (Garfield, New Jersey) and sophomore Alexis Lee (Wilmington, Delaware) gave the squad a 24-23 advantage. The lead would change hands four times after that before the Eagles got the win.

In the third set, Maryland Eastern Shore gained control early and maintained the lead as junior Tatjana Trifkovic (Belgrade, Serbia) got a kill to end the set. The final set was controlled by CSU for most of the frame. The Hawks would rally late and go on an 8-0 run to make the score 22-24 before an error ended the match.

Chery had a game-high six blocks to lead the Hawks defense. Junior Ilina Spasova (Sofia, Bulgaria) had a double-double for the second straight match as she finished with 16 kills and 11 digs.

The Shore will now host their first conference matches of the season on Oct. 4 against Norfolk State and Oct. 6 versus Howard.

"We really want to pack the house this weekend and our goal is to make it like a welcome home celebration," Callarman said. "I think we have the best home crowd and we definitely want to have some fun with that."

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