DOVER, Del. - The Delaware State University volleyball team felt the lost presence of senior Sonja Banicevic (Zagreb, Croatia), who's season ended early due to an injury, as they were swept, 3-0, by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Friday night at Memorial Hall.

The Hawks recorded 13 aces on the night in addition to 40 kills, compared to three aces and 25 kills for the Hornets.  UMES also posted a .272 (40 kills/18 errors/81 total attacks) attack percentage while DSU hit just .197 (25/13/61).

Senior Elisa Herrmann (Andernach, Germany) led Del State with eight kills with junior Laisha Davis (Riviera Beach, Fla.) contributing six of her own.  UMES freshman Saitaua Iosia notched a game-high 12 kills for the Hawks.

In the first set, a kill from sophomore Brooke Redmon (Warrenton, Va.) gave the Hornets a 8-6 lead before UMES went on a 5-0 run.  The Hawks would take a 16-11 off of a bad set by from junior Bel Fakaosi (Salt Lake City, Utah) to force a DSU timeout.  With Maline Vaitai serving, the Hawks rattled off another five points to go up, 23-14.  Herrmann came up with two kills to come within 24-17, but Ndidi Ibe recorded a kill from Jessica Vicic to give UMES a 25-17 win.

Set two was much closer as the teams exchanged points for the majority of the game.  The Hawks were the first team to receive a point off of their own serve with Becky Prado behind the line and Kaveinga Lea'Aetoa collecting a kill to go up, 4-2.  The Hornets posted their first point off of their own serve to tie things at 10-10 off of a Herrmann kill.  With things tied at 16-16, UMES went on a 6-2 run to break away from Del State.  Freshman Theresa Schieder (Munich, Germany) tallied two points for the Hornets with a kill and service ace to come within 23-19, but the Hawks pulled off the 25-20 win.

UMES used two runs of 4-0 and 5-0 to take control of the third set and eventually win, 25-18.  Despite an attack percentage of .375 (8/2/16) for DSU compared to the Hawks' 0.95 (9/7/21), the Hornets weren't able to focus and finish things out.  A kill from Davis tied things at 11-11 and an attack error from Iosia gave Del State a 12-11 lead and forced a UMES timeout.  Vicic recorded four straight service aces to give the Hawks an 18-13 lead.  UMES would go up by nine at 23-14 with a kill from Ibe.  Kills from freshman Edarkis Branch (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Herrmann in addition to an attack error from Vaitai brought the Hornets within 24-18 before Vaitai knocked down a kill for the 25-18 Hawks win.

DSU falls to 3-16 overall on the season and 2-5 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference while UMES stays perfect in conference play at 6-0 and moves to 15-6 overall.

The Hornets continue their homestand on Tuesday as they host Lehigh at 7 p.m. for their annual Dig Pink night in support of breast cancer research.  

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