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Aug. 29, 2008 BLACKSBURG, Va. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore's (UMES) women's volleyball team opened their season tonight in fine fashion. Despite the 3-1 loss to Virginia Tech (1-0), Head Coach Don Metil was "very proud" of the Hawks' performance against a heavily favored ACC foe. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) MVP, Whitney Johnson (Prince Frederick, Md./Univ. of Albany) led the way with 18 kills while fellow MEAC first-teamer Christina Estebane' (El Paso, Texas/Midland College) looked in mid-season form, tallying 39 assists, 13 digs and four kills. "Coming into this match I didn't know what to expect. We returned five starters and our libero but were without two of them tonight. I am thrilled with the way we played." UMES (0-1) started the match without seniors Adora Luster (Woodbridge, Va./Osbourn Park HS) and their libero Leah Amundson (Tucson, Ariz./Arizona Western C.C.) who are both injured. Taking that into consideration, UMES was happy with the way they played, all except the loss. "We could have won tonight, but, if we played them mid-season we would have a real shot at beating them," said Metil. "We gave them a tough fight." The Hawks fell 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 21-25, 25-23) to the Hokies. "The team came out with jitters," said Metil. "We spotted them game one." UMES got down early as Virginia Tech jumped out a 5-0 lead behind the serving of Justine Record. They took the game quickly but UMES quickly worked out the jitters, made the set respectable and surprised the Hokies in the second set.
While Tech jumped out to a 9-5 lead, UMES came rallying back and took a 19-18 lead. The Hawks pushed the set to an "overtime," of sorts, going beyond the 25 point barrier before falling 26-24.
Set three was all UMES. They were up 17-13 and didn't allow Va. Tech any closer than 20-15 when Johnson ended all Hokie hopes, smashing a kill that drained the life out of Tech, as the Lady Hawks took the set 25-21. Game four appeared to belong to UMES as well. Tech led 2-0 but the Hawks took the lead right back and maintained it throughout the entire set until Hokie Felicia Wiilloughby gave them the lead back, eventually leading to a 24-23 score. After a Hawk point Estebane's jump serve appeared to be well in on the back line but the ball was called out the Lady Hawks' hope of upset was ended as Va. Tech took the set 25-23 and the 3-1 win. Michelle Lang led the Hokies with 13 kills while Taylor Parrish had ten. Middle blocker Thonya Joseph (Bridgetown, Barbados/Clarendon College), starting in place if Luster, hit an amazing .375 while All-MEAC selection Caylin Woodward (Garden Grove, Calif./Pacifica HS) was solid with 11 kills and a hitting percentage of .320. The Hawk serving, a strong point of last year, was also great. They tallied eight aces, not far off the 2.84 per game average that won the Hawks the NCAA title in that category in 2007. Newcomer Christine Edwards (Lakewood, Calif./St. Joseph HS) was solid, with ten kills, one and half blocks and four of the team's eight aces. "I can't say how proud I am of these young ladies," repeated Metil. "We got great production from just about everyone and we were down a couple of starters. We opened our season 1-2 last year and won 24 matches. If we can start this season 2-1, who knows where it will lead." UMES looks to get the first of those two win tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. when they face off against the Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers won the opening match of the Hawthorne Suites Hokie Invitational over MEAC school Winston-Salem State 3-0. They were 15-17 in 2007. They play the WSSU Rams tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Fans can watch live stats of the matches on the NEW umeshawks.com courtesy of Virginia Tech. |
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