Bulldogs fall to Lady Hawks in five sets at Brown Invitational – Volleyball News
The opening match of th eBrown Invitational Women’s Volleyball Tournament brought two prominent teams from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) together on Friday, September 16. The Bulldogs of Bryant University went up against Lady Hawks
from University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). The friendly looking match turned into a heated competition as both teams played to their full potential. Eventually, the five set thriller resulted in Lady Hawks’ victory. They posted 3-2 (24-26, 25-16, 25-17,
17-25, and 15-6) on board and recorded their second win over Bulldogs in the 2011 season as the city of Smithfield in Providence, Rhode Island hosted the thrilling match.
Key contributors
Freshman Saitaua Losia notched 30 kills for Hawks and settled for the position of top scorer in the match. Her teammate Ndidi Ibe was equally active on the court. She remained on target all day long and committed 10 attempts while slamming nine of those
tries down for kills (.900 attack pct.). For the Bulldogs, it was outside hitter Alexandria Clyburn who put up valiant effort and set a new career record with 15 kills but it did not benefit the team. The Bulldogs still failed to overcome the power of UMES
Hawks. Macy Mitravich, the junior libero of Bulldogs, was credited with 13 digs in the match.
First set
The Lady Hawks kicked off the action in opening set and jumped straight to 10-6 lead. Back to back attacks from Losia included three kills worked magic for UMES Team. Meanwhile, Bulldogs tried to chase the score but trailed behind. Hawks maintained the flow
of scores and moved 17-13. Clyburn of Bulldogs staged a great fight and helped her side with six out of the next eight points. The hard work paid off and Bryant girls hit the equalizer at 19-all. It imitated a see-saw battle as the scoreboard showed 25-24.
Lady Hawks couldn’t deal with Kendal Gaffney’s ace and allowed Bulldogs to take away the first set at 26-24.
Second set
The loss of opening set raged up Hawks and they came up with strong offensive attack in second set. However, the Bulldogs also had strong position in the match. They gave a tough competition to opponents. The score tied at eight points but UMES took advantage
via kill and block assist from Losia and Ndidi Ibe. Hawks went on 4-0 run, while the Bulldogs suffered the set back. Anyhow, the Bryant players kept fighting and three points in row. In response, the Hawks recorded another 6-0 and sealed second set win, 25-16.
Third set
The impressive attack attempts of Losia led the way for Hawks in third set. She clipped first three points on a kill and two aces. On the other hand, Bulldogs seemed to have lost their form and could not resist. In this scenario, UMES got great opportunity
to add more points and cruised past to 11-5. Losia and Ibe continued putting more pressure on Bulldogs and led the scores. They quickly covered the length of third set and extended their lead 2-0 by third set win at 25-17.
Fourth set
The score went back-and-forth in set 4 as Bulldogs came up with counter attacks. UMES was ahead of Bulldogs in the start of set but dropped the set with a margin of 8 points. Bulldogs managed to create the dead-lock of 2-2.
Final set
Lady Hawks put an end to the tussle in the final set and claimed victory with a huge margin of 15-6.
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