Dover, Del. (Sep. 1, 2022) --- The Delaware State volleyball team will host a two-day tournament at Bayhealth Court in Memorial Hall this weekend. Loyola (Md.), Hartford and Quinnipiac will join the Hornets for the invitational.
Play begins Friday (Sep. 2) with the Hornets hosting Hartford at 4:00 p.m., followed by Quinnipiac taking on Loyola at 7:00 p.m.
Each team will play two matches on Saturday (Sep. 3).  Loyola and Hartford will tip off Saturday's action with an 11:00 a.m. match. The Hornets and Quinnipiac take the court next at 2:00 p.m.
Quinnipiac is back in action at 4:30 p.m. against Hartford. Delaware State and Hartford will wrap up the tourney with a 7:00 p.m. match on Saturday.
The Hornets will look to pick up where they left off last season when it comes to homecourt dominance.
Delaware State was a perfect 13-0 at home last season, and have won 15 straight in Memorial Hall since the Covid- impacted spring 2021 campaign.
The Hornets posted 12 shutouts, while winning 39 of 40 sets in front of the home crowd a year ago.
Delaware State brings a 1-2 record into this weekend's tournament, after playing 14 sets in three matches at the DoubleTree-Youngstown State Invitational last weekend. Delaware State opened the season with hard-fought losses to Valparaiso and host Youngstown State before outlasting Idaho in its tournament finale.
Outside hitter Karen Cordero (sr.) has a team-high 40 kills (2.86 per set), while ranking fourth on club with 24 digs and is third with four aces.
Middle blocker Sydney Lewis (sr.) is the reigning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player-of-the-Week after recording 19 blocks (1.36 per set) in the first three matches. Lewis had a career-best nine blocks in the victory over Idaho in the Hornets' last outing. She's also the team leader with seven aces, while ranking third on the team with 24 kills (.260 hitting pct.).
Fellow middle-blocker Alondra Maldonado (jr.), a Preseason All-MEAC honoree, ranks second on the Hornets with 26 kills, while defensive specialist Jasmal Cruz (sr.) has a team-high 38 digs.
Setter Malgorzata Andersohn (sr.) is Delaware State's leader with 64 assists. Alayna Lacy is a close second with 63