DOVER, Del. (Oct 9th)
- In front of a season-high crowd 732 at Memorial Gym, the DSU Hornets kicked off MEAC play with a 3-1 victory (25-17, 25-18, 21-25, 25-20) over the Hampton Lady Pirates on Friday evening.
"Mia (Ferrari) did a great job leading the team today," said head coach Renee Arnold, who won her 77th match as the coach of the Hornets. "Cassandra Joyner coming back into our lineup tonight was big for us, as it gave us some stability in front of a very big crowd. Ashley Herman also played with a lot of poise, and she continues to improve."
The Hornets (11-10, 1-0) jumped out to an impressive first set win, hitting .333 as a team while holding the Lady Pirates (5-13, 1-1)to .000. Erica Tajchman was a leader from the outside hitter position, killing four balls on five attacks to lead DSU. Tajchman also picked up 14 digs on the match, picking up the one of two Hornet double-doubles on the night.
Set two was more of the same, with junior rightside Sarah Wheatcroft picking up the offense, putting up four kills on five attacks. The Hornets outdug Hampton 11-7 for the set, and took advantage of six ball handling errors by Lady Pirate setter Lihi Elkayam. At 19-18 in the set, Tajchman went back to serve and picked up four aces in six consecutive Hornet points to finish the set.
The third set saw the crowd get larger, but the Hornets begin to take their foot off the gas. Hitting -.036 for the set, 10 attack errors were the difference as the Pirates managed to pick up their first frame. Mianna Armstrong's four kills on nine attacks led all Lady Pirates.
But the final game saw the record Hornet crowd make a huge difference, giving the red and blue the lift they needed to put a pesky Hampton team away. Senior and All-MEAC performer Joyner led the Hornets with four kills, including the final point of the match when she attacked the last of Ferrari's 35 assists from the middle to start the celebration.
The Hornets will take on division rival UMES on Sunday at 3 p.m. Live stats will be available via DSUHornets.com, and Hornets Nest members will be able to access live streaming.
Stingers:
Friday was the Susan G. Komen "Dig For The Cure" match, which saw the Hornets wearing pink jerseys in support of breast cancer research. Donations were accepted from all fans, with a total amount raised to be announced later. Chick-Fil-A was also generous to sponsor pink shirts to support the cause that were given away to the first 150 fans.
The Hornets were honored to have DSU Associate Provost Bradley Skelcher as their Honorary Coach on the Bench. Skelcher moved to 1-0 on the season, with the Hornets remaining undefeated at home at 5-0.
Ashley Herman picked up an ace, giving her 40 on the season with an average of 0.62 per set. Herman entered the weekend fourth in NCAA Division I Volleyball in aces per set.
