UMES Volleyball Drops Cougars Classic Finale

Courtesy: UMES Athletics

In their final match at Washington State’s Cougar Challenge, Maryland Eastern Shore were defeated by the George Washington Colonials (13-25, 20-25, 20-25) at Bohler Gymnasium Saturday morning. The Hawks dropped their third straight for an overall record of 7-5.
Sophomore Lucia Babic (Sisak, Croatia) led the Hawks with eight kills while converting one-third of her attacks. Freshman Ivana Blazevic (Zagreb, Croatia) supplied 16 assists and eight digs, both team highs. Sophomore Koya Sowells (Missouri City, Texas) totaled five digs while senior Mere Serea (Suva, Fiji) led The Shore with six block participations.
For the Colonials, Chidima Osuchukwu led with 13 kills and Maddie Brown registered 11 digs. George Washington improved to 6-4 on the season.
In the first set, George Washington jumped out to a ten point lead and never looked back, eventually winning by twelve. Set two would play much closer as the Hawks held early leads thanks to a pair of Blazevic kills along with a kill and an ace from freshman Iva Vujosevic (Bar, Montenegro). But a ferocious rally by the Colonials helped them take control and open up a ten point lead. A Hawks rally cut the deficit to five, but George Washington held on to win and led 2-0.
Set three played even closer than the second. After the Colonials shot out to a 5-0 lead, the Hawks rallied to tie. That would be the story for most of the set—whenever one team surged ahead, the opponent climbed back. With the score at 18-18, the Colonials delivered a final rally that doomed the Hawks. Four kills capped off a 7-2 run as George Washington took the set by five.
Next weekend the Hawks will travel to East Lansing, Michigan to participate in the Spartan Classic. Michigan State, DePaul and Notre Dame will be the Hawks’ opponents.