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AMHERST, New York — Though the Hawks earned a convincing Set 1 win against the hosting Daemen Wildcats, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore lost its second match of the NEC weekend, 3-1. 

The Score 

Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (12-9, 2-4 NEC) - 1 

Daemen Wildcats (12-10, 5-3) - 3 

(25-16, 20-25, 21-25, 23-25) 

How It Happened 

The first set moved quickly in favor of the Hawks as Tristan Rowley and Andre Mills scored back-to-back kills before Rowley and Chase Valentine combined for a block to take a 3-0 lead. UMES continued to push its momentum early on with a run to 6-2 behind another Rowley and Valentine combo block and a pair of attacking errors on the part of the Wildcats. The Hawks led by as many points as eight on four separate occasions, 17-9, 21-13, 23-15 and finally 24-16 before closing the set with a nine-point difference on a Valentine and Andre Mills for the 25-16 win. 

The opening of the second set saw little separation from either side as the score remained knotted at five with kills from Valentine, Mills and Hightower paired with a service ace from Valentine and an attacking error from Daemen. While the Wildcats pulled ahead by as much as five, UMES battled back to keep the score close thanks in part to multiple kills from Mills and Hightower and a litany of errors from Daemen before the Wildcats evened the sets with a 25-20 win. 

UMES jumped out to an early lead in Set 3 with a kill from Valentine and a trio of errors from Daemen to lead 4-2. The Hawks continued to maintain their lead over the Wildcats through a combination of kills from Hightower and Marcellus Owens, a service ace from Kenyon Haynes and another collection of errors from Daemen to hold a 10-8 lead. Daemen, though, caught up to the UMES lead and moved out front before taking the third set 25-21 for the hosts. 

The entirety of the fourth set was a battle for momentum and separation as neither side could build more than a two-point lead through the set. Jaxon Clark paced UMES through the fourth with six kills while Valentine and Hightower each added two. Daemen, though, held off the charge from the Hawks and took the narrow 25-23 win to close the match. 

The Numbers 

• Joshua Hightower led the Hawks in kills with nine while adding four digs and a pair of assists to his day. 

• Jaxon Clark was second on the team with seven kills, doing so in just two sets. Through that span, he also added two digs and a block assist. 

• Setter Kenyon Haynes led the team in assists with 33 while adding a pair of kills and aces along with six digs. 

• The UMES liberos notched six digs as Jarrett Key totaled four and Jordan Brockman two more. 

• Chase Valentine led the Hawks with four block assists while Tristan Rowley added another three. 

• UMES scored 89 total points to the Wildcats' 91, though Daemen recorded 61 kills to the Hawks' 39. 

Up Next 

The Hawks return to Princess Anne for a pair of NEC matches against LIU on Friday, April 3, at 6 p.m. and another 2 p.m. match on Saturday, April 4. 

Follow Along 

Keep up with the latest from UMES men's volleyball on UMESHawkSports.com and by following along on X (@UMESHawksMVB) and Instagram (@umeshawksmvb).