Sept. 29, 2007

Box Score

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Head Coach Don Metil has to be pleased with the first tournament he hosted as head coach of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). It turned out to be a championship as UMES won all four matches they played, improved their record to 14-3 (3-0 MEAC) and made it twelve consecutive wins.

The Hawks began their part of the day at 1pm taking on Robert Morris University (RMU) and quickly fell behind one game as RMU took the win 31-29. UMES quickly rebounded behind the three pronged attack of Whitney Johnson (Prince Frederick, Md./Univ. of Albany), Caylin Woodward (Garden Grove, Calif./Pacifica H.S.) and Holiday Eller (Minnetonka Minn./ St. Benilde-St. Margaret's H.S.). The three combined for 37 kills in the match. Johnson led all attackers with 15 kills while Woodward had no errors, hitting .476 in the match.

Eller did her part as well, serving up five aces in the win. The match was sealed however on the play of freshman Shaylin Sommer (Atascadero, Calif./ Atascadero H.S.) as she served up a career high eight aces. UMES is one of the best serving teams in the nation and 17 aces in the match proved that to the Colonials.

UMES took the remaining three games 30-17, 30-22, 30-22.

Christina Estebane' (El Paso, Texas/Midland Coll.) dished up 21 assists, ten digs and five kills in the match.

Amanda Graham and Emily Wolthuis both had 15 kills for RMU. Wolthuis added ten digs while Tawnya Storino added 35 assists.

In the nightcap of the tournament UMES again started a little slow against the Spartans of Norfolk State University (NSU) edging them in game one 30-24 but righted the ship taking games two and three 30-18 and 30-16.

Johnson again had a match high 15 kills on 30 swings with just four errors. Adora Luster (Woodbridge, Va./ Osbourn Park H.S.) was a little better percentage wise, posting a mark of .647, tallying 11 kills on 17 swings. Woodward also added six aces. The Hawks had 14 total.

UMES hit .443 in the match to the Spartan's .163. They were paced by Vanessa Faircloth and Shardonay Blueford, both had seven kills each.

In other action on the day Delaware State posted a pair of wins. A 3-1 win over RMU and a 3-0 win over St. Francis University (PA) (SFU). SFU also took a 3-1 win over NSU.

UMES is back in action at home, where they are undefeated this season on Wednesday, October 3 at 7:00 pm. They hope to improve their MEAC record to 4-0 with a win and run their streak to 13 in a row.