BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball team fell to the University of Pennsylvania Quakers and the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks on Friday (Sept. 6) in day one of the Crosstown Invitational Tournament.
In the first match of the day, the Hawks played a five set classic with the Quakers. The final scores were 26-24, 18-25, 25-22, 15-25 and 13-15. There were 30 ties and 14 lead changes over the course of the match.
Set one went to the Hawks after they responded from being down 15-19 late in the set. Eastern Shore went on a run to tie the set at 22 before sophomore Alexis Lee (Wilmington, Delaware) would get a kill a few points later to secure the win.
The first set had 12 ties and six lead changes. During the middle three sets, the team that had control early maintained their lead as the squads alternated winning sets to tie the match at 2-2 and force a fifth set.
The final set began with a controversial ace call that went in favor of Penn. The drama would only increase from there. Following a block from sophomore Mauri Carver (Elizabeth City, North Carolina), Maryland Eastern Shore held an 11-7 lead and were four points away from victory. However, the Quakers would rally to tie the set at 13 before getting the final two points of the match to win 3-2.
Senior Ivana Blazevic (Zagreb, Croatia) and junior Tatjana Trifkovic (Belgrade, Serbia) each had a double-double in the match. Blazevic finished with 32 assists and 10 digs along with four aces. Trifkovic had team-highs in kills and digs with 14 each. Senior Lidia Chery (Garfield, New Jersey) had seven kills with a .417 hitting percentage and a game-high nine blocks in the match.
In the night cap against Lehigh, the Hawks took the first set but would drop the next three. Scores were 25-22, 19-25, 15-25 and 19-25.
The Hawks had a .206 hitting percentage in set number one, while the Mountain Hawks hit .188 in the set. After that, Lehigh had percentages of .273, .387 and .485 in the next three sets to control the rest of the match.
Lee led the squad with 14 kills in the match. Sophomore Stella Johnson (Newport News, Virginia) had a game-high 20 digs. That was also a career high in digs for Johnson. Trifkovic and junior Ilina Spasova (Sofia, Bulgaria) both had 10 digs and seven kills.
"We weren't able to get wins today, but we got valuable experience," head coach Trevor Callarman said. "As the season goes on, especially in conference play, we can relate back to these experiences to make us a better team."
The Hawks will be back in action in day two of the Crosstown Invitational tomorrow (Sept. 7) as they face Lafayette College at 3:30 p.m.
For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.
