WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Hampton University volleyball team picked up its third straight win on Sunday, beating rival Howard 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-13) in Burr Gymnasium.

The Lady Pirates (16-13, 7-3 MEAC) have won all three meetings with the Lady Bison this season and matched their conference win total from last year.

After Howard jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set, the Lady Pirates fought back to tie the set at 3-3 after a kill from sophomore Vendula Strakova (Brno, Czech Republic) and a service ace from senior Mariah Baylor (Minneapolis, Minn.).

The two teams traded points before the Lady Bison went up 8-5, before junior Petra Parros (Bloomfield, N.J.) closed the gap to 8-6 with a kill. The Lady Pirates later closed Howard's lead to 12-11 after a kill from junior Ioana Kalfinova (Sofia, Bulgaria), before tying the set at 13-13.

Another Kalfinova kill put Hampton up 14-13, before sophomore Krista Kraskura (Kuldiga, Latvia) added back-to-back kills to cap a 5-0 spurt and give the Lady Pirates a 16-13 lead.

Strakova recorded back-to-back kills to give Hampton its largest lead of the first set, 20-16, before Howard fought back to close the gap to 20-19. The Lady Bison then scored two of the next three points to tie the set at 21-21, but Hampton scored on the next rally to re-take the lead.

After the two teams traded points, Kalfinova forced set point with a kill to give Hampton a 24-23 lead, before Parros added another kill to give the Lady Pirates the first set 25-23.

Howard (0-22, 0-10 MEAC) again struck first in the second set, but the Lady Pirates took a 3-2 lead after a service ace from sophomore Sonja Maksimovic (Belgrade, Serbia) and a kill from Kraskura. The Lady Bison answered with a 4-1 run to take a 6-4 lead.

Hampton tied the set at 7-7 thanks to a kill and an ace from Strakova, before Howard jumped back on top 9-7. After a Strakova kill tied the set at 9-9, Howard took the lead again.

After the two teams went back-and-forth for several rallies, the Lady Pirates scored three straight points – back-to-back kills from Strakova and a kill from Kalfinova – to give Hampton a 16-13 lead and force Howard to burn a timeout.

The two teams exchanged points again over several rallies, before the Lady Pirates went up 20-18. Howard fought back, before Strakova gave Hampton a 22-20 lead with a kill. The Lady Bison committed back-to-back errors to push Hampton's lead to 24-20 and force set point.

Howard scored three straight points, though, to cut Hampton's lead to 24-23, before Kraskura clinched the set with a kill. Hampton hit a match-best .367 in the second set, with 15 kills and four errors in 30 attacks.

The Lady Pirates jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set, with Strakova accounting for three of those points. That lead grew to 8-3 after Parros registered a kill and teamed on a block with Strakova. A Strakova service ace and kill later in the set put the Lady Pirates up 11-4.

Strakova added another ace later in the set to give Hampton a 14-4 lead. All told, the Lady Pirates used a 7-0 run to go up 16-4.

From there, the Lady Pirates took control and cruised to the straight-set win.

Strakova led the Lady Pirates with 17 kills and 12 digs on defense for her seventh double-double of the year, while Kraskura added 12 kills. Strakova hit a team-best .438 for the match, while Kraskura hit .375.

As a team, Hampton hit .295 (39 kills, 11 errors in 95 attacks).

Maksimovic had 33 of the Lady Pirates' 38 assists, while freshman Samantha Sours (Yorktown, Va.) also had 12 digs on defense.

The Lady Pirates will return to action on Friday, when they return to Holland Hall to take on Delaware State at 6 p.m. 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.