Box Score

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Hampton University volleyball team won its first match of the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawk Invitational on Friday defeated North Carolina Central 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-22)  at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center.

The Lady Pirates (5-7) extended their winning streak to three matches with their fifth straight win over NCCU. The Eagles dropped to 1-14 on the season.

Hampton took an 8-4 lead in the first set after a kill from senior Mianna Armstrong (Lomond, Alberta), before the Lady Pirates extended that lead to 9-4. Hampton then led 11-8 after a kill from Armstrong and a service ace from junior Mariah Baylor (Minneapolis, Minn.).

NCCU cut the lead to 14-11, but Hampton scored four unanswered to go up 18-11 after Baylor and freshman Krista Kraskura (Kuldiga, Latvia) teamed up on a block. Kraskura later recorded a kill to give the Lady Pirates a 20-12 lead, before they cruised to win the set.

The Eagles led 14-12 in the middle of the second set, but Hampton scored the next two points to tie the score 14-14 on an Armstrong kill. The score tied again at 15-15, before freshman Sonja Maksimovic (Belgrade, Serbia) gave Hampton the lead for good with a kill.

Once NCCU cut Hampton's lead to 17-16, the Lady Pirates went on a 5-0 run to take 22-16 lead after an ace from sophomore Petra Parros (Bloomfield, N.J.). NCCU would go on a late 6-1 run to cut Hampton's lead to 24-23, but an Eagles error gave Hampton the second set.

The Lady Pirates opened the third set with a 6-2 run, culminating in another Maksimovic kill, before NCCU cut the lead to 8-6. Later in the set, Maksimovic recorded a kill and senior Juliana Chavez (Bogota, Colombia) added an ace to put Hampton up 17-12.

After Hampton went up 20-14, NCCU scored five straight points to cut that lead to 20-19. Armstrong then stopped the run with a kill, and the Lady Pirates held the Eagles at arm's length the rest of the way to claim their first three-set win of the season.

The Lady Pirates hit .227 for the match, recording 38 kills and just 13 errors in 110 total attacks. Hampton hit a team-best .423 (14 kills, three errors in 26 attacks) in the first set and held a 5-1 edge in service aces.

NCCU hit just .167 for the match, recording 41 kills and 22 errors in 114 attacks. The Eagles hit a team-best .188 (17 kills, eight errors in 48 attacks) in the second set.

NCCU had eight service errors.

Maksimovic and Armstrong led the Lady pirates with 10 kills each; Maksimovic also hit a team-best .643 – thanks to just one error in 14 attacks – while Armstrong added 10 digs on defense for a double-double.

Kraskura and junior Brittany Hill (Sacramento, Calif.) each had 10 digs, while Kraskura also had seven kills and hit .238 (two errors in 21 attacks).

Chavez came off the bench to record a team-high 16 assists, while senior Lihi Elkayam (Misgav, Israel) added 14 assists – leaving her 43 assists shy of tying the school record for career assists.

Dayanna Arrufat led NCCU with 13 kills, while Emanuelle Santos had 12 kills and a team-high 10 digs on defense.

The Lady Pirates will return to action on Saturday, when they take on Alabama State at 10 a.m. and Cal State Bakersfield at 2 p.m. in the final day of the UMES Hawk Invitational. For more information on Hampton University volleyball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.