PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — In their first conference match of the season, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball team defeated the Norfolk State University Spartans in straight sets on Friday night (September 24) inside the William P. Hytche Center.
Friday night's win was the fourth straight win for the Hawks as they stand at 6-6 on the season. The winning streak of four is the longest for the team since the 2017 season when head coach Trevor Callarman was an assistant.
"We wanted to come into conference play and prove a point," Callarman said. "Norfolk played a pretty good match, but we feel like today our girls were a little bit better so it feels good to get it a win in this manner."
Norfolk State got off to a quick start and led 12-9. The Hawks would get four of the next five points to tie the set at 13. After that, sophomore Jalynn Robinson stepped to the service line and led the squad on a 7-0 run to give The Shore control of the frame. The two teams would go back and forth for the next few points before junior Derionah Abner got an ace to end the set 25-16.
In the second set, Maryland Eastern Shore had the fast start and an ace from sophomore Maya Hendricks put the team up 9-3. NSU would slowly cut into the lead as the frame went on and trailed just 20-17 late in the set.
The Hawks responded with four straight points coming from a kill by Abner, a block by Abner and senior Mauri Carver, a ball handling error from the Spartans and an out of rotation call against Norfolk State. The Spartans got the next two points before Robinson got a kill to end the set 25-19.
The final set saw NSU rally to scare the Hawks. The Shore held an 11-6 lead until the Spartans ran off five straight on the scoreboard to tie the set at 11. The match became a seesaw battle after that as the Hawks clung to a 22-21 advantage when the visitors called timeout.
After the quick break, NSU tied the set at 22 but they would not score again. Freshman Ranyla Griggs got a kill and that was followed by back-to-back kills from graduate student Marina Cruz to end the match.
Hendricks finished with a game-high 11 kills for the team. Robinson and senior Tijana Korosec each had strong matches at setter as they finished with 17 and 16 assists respectively. As a team, the Hawks had 11 service aces.
Maryland Eastern Shore will look to extend their streak on Sunday (September 26) as they travel to Washington, D.C. to take on the Howard University Bison.
"Howard is a perennial contender in the conference and we know that, so we are going prepare and be ready for them," Callarman said. "This squad has the talent to do a lot of damage in the conference this year and I think we can prove that with a sweep against Norfolk and win on Sunday."
