Eastern Kentucky beats UMES on final day of USF Invitational - Volleyball
The Women’s Invitational Volleyball Tournament of University of South Florida (USF) has just completed its run from September 2 to 4 at Tampa, Florida. A total of four University Teams were on board to contest their skills on the centre court.
Bethune-Cookman Bowling-Green Eastern Kentucky (the Colonels) University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)
On the final day of USF Invitational, UMES clashed with Eastern Kentucky. The former could not defend its position and received a 0-3 (21-25, 18-25, and 12-25) defeat. The team from UMES, or commonly known as the Hawks, finished with an overall score of
1-3 in the invitational. On the other hand, Colonels, the Eastern Kentucky squad, improved to 4-4 on the season.
Eastern Kentucky opened the match on a high note and went straight into action. They served with accuracy and spiked the ball hard. Moreover, they restricted UMES by showing strong defence. The Colonels saw an early lead of 9-0, which put huge pressure
on the UMES side. Saitaua Iosia of UMES added 3 points to her team’s score. However, the Colonels were totally excited and continued adding more points. Ndidi Ibe was the most prolific player for the Colonels as she actively participated in the strike. Meanwhile,
the Hawks hit some nice shots and struggled to shorten the gap of points. They managed to steal points from the Colonels and minimised the deficit to just two points at 20-22. It was a great chase but UMES fell short in the game with 4 points and dropped the
opening set 21-25.
The second set of the game progressed in a similar fashion. Eastern Kentucky jumped into a 7-0 lead and kept the operations well under control. The Hawks added two points, while Colonels also scored two points to make it 8-2. In the span of the next 14 points,
Hawks attempted good attacks and got a few kills. Nonetheless, the Colonels led the score with 16-12 and finally closed off second set with 25-18 victory.
Saitaua Iosia set the pace for UMES in the third set with her three kills but the Colonels proved to be a tough nut to crack. After winning two sets in a row, they were high on morale. They hit the ball hard and did not allow the Hawks to dig any of their
shots. Eastern Kentucky quickly covered the length of the third set and hit the mark by posting a 25-12 victory.
In the next run, UMES is scheduled to take part in the Bryant Invitational in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The Bryant Invitational will start Friday, September 9. UMES will have another chance to do well and shake off the loss.
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