PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland – It was a rough day hitting for the Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball program against Howard University, struggling against the Bison in a 1-3 loss at the Hytche Athletic Center on Sunday, September 25.
The Hawks dropped the first two sets 11-25 and 15-25 before rebounding with a 25-23 third set but were unable to keep up the momentum in the fourth set, falling 16-25.
"We're still trying to fix a few things on our side of the net," head coach
Trevor Callarman said. "Today was about us not taking care of our side of the net in the way we want to."
In the first set the Hawks were unable to gain any traction, letting the Bison go on two five-point runs after a competitive first five points.
Sophia Chacon was only able to tally four assists and no Hawk had more than one kill in an uncharacteristic set for the squad.
The Hawks once again fought hard at the start of the second set, staying in it until the sixth point when Howard continued to double up on every point scored. Once again, the Hawks couldn't get a hit to land, hitting just .036 in the set and only
Shanti Ramdeen getting more than one with two kills on five attempts.
After the rough first two sets the Hawks found their footing in the third, with Chacon assisting on twelve kills and
Ranyla Griggs crushing six. Howard kept the set tight until freshman
Anjola Omolewa came through with two kills when the game was tied 23-23 to seal the win.
"We are going to start turning it up in our gym," Callarman said. "We have some talented moments but we need to start turning these one and two set wins into three set wins so we get the match."
Howard came out on the attack in the fourth set, jumping out to a hearty lead thanks to early runs that put the Hawks immediately in a hole. Omolewa kept up with her attacks with three kills and
Sydney Morris also chipped in three with the hammer from the right side, late attack errors sunk the Hawks in an attempt at a rally.
Griggs was the top Hawk with nine kills in the match and Chacon assisted on 28 of the Hawks points. Defensively Maryland Eastern Shore was out blocked three to eleven and finished with 49 digs, led my
Isil Yilmaz's ten.
The Hawks are back in action this Thursday (September 29), hosting Delaware State University at 6:00 p.m. in an important Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference matchup.
Follow the action on Twitter via @ESHawksVB.
