DOVER, Del. --- The Delaware State women's volleyball team opens the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) portion of its 2022 season on the road against Howard on Friday and will return to Memorial Hall for the MEAC home opener against Norfolk State on Sunday. 
 
Delaware State returns to Burr Gymnasium for a rematch of the 2021 MEAC Championship Tournament for Volleyball against the defending champion Howard Bison. The Hornets and Bison split the regular season matchups with each team winning on home court. Howard then clinched the 2021 MEAC tournament title with a 3-1 win that also gave the Bison a berth to the NCAA tournament.
 
Senior middle blocker Sydney Lewis on the team's mentality heading into Burr Gymnasium tomorrow night stated "We're ready to just win. We're coming off a tough matchup against West Virginia, and we know that we're heading into Howard who beat us last year. We're ready to prove to everyone that this is our year against the team who took the championship from us last year."
 
"Howard is the most recent conference champion and they're the team to beat. One of their strengths is their size so we have to be efficient offensively to combat that." – women's volleyball head coach Dr. Bruce Atkinson on playing Howard to open up MEAC competition.

As the Hornets look to right the wrong of 2021, they will look to their upperclassmen who have played major roles in the team's recent turnaround after starting 2022 1-2 in the YSU/Doubletree-Youngstown Volleyball Invitational.
 
"We're steadily improving as the year is going on. We're in a place that I envisioned we would be heading into conference play and I'm hoping we can continue on the upward trajectory we've been on. I think one of the strengths of our team is that any of the hitters can put the ball away and it makes it difficult for our opponents to focus in one hitter. We have a number of different players we can turn to on any given night to produce offensively." – Coach Atkinson continued on the state of the team's current run with production coming from different players.
 
Junior middle blocker Alondra Maldonado enters Friday's match as the reigning MEAC Player of the Week and only player in the league to have won this award more than once this season. She currently sits in third in the league in total kills (122) and fourth in kills per set (2.60). For as effective as Maldonado is on the offensive side of the ball, she can be just as productive on the defensive side. She has tallied 37 total blocks this year (2 block solo, 35 block assists) which gives her a total of 141.5 points so far this year which has her currently sitting in fourth in the league.
 
Lewis hopes to continue her momentum as one of the premier defensive personnel for the Hornets. As a one-time MEAC Defensive Player of the Week who currently ranks in first place in the league in total blocks and blocks per set (57, 1.21), Lewis tallied 17 total blocks last week at the Mountaineer Invitational with a team-high in block solo (4) as well as block assists (13). Her 57 total blocks rank her in a tie for 24th in the country in said category. Lewis also sits atop the conference leader board in hitting percentage (.422) which currently ranks her 14th in Division I in said category. She is also the only member of the current league leaders to be hitting above .400.
 
"I knew that coming into my senior year, as a captain, that I had to focus and step up for my team. We know what we want to accomplish, and I had to find a way to help anyway I could."  - Lewis when asked about her own production during the team's run of winning 10 out of the last 11 games. 
 
Reigning 2021 aces per set statistical champion Malgorzata Andersohn currently ranks tied for 22nd in the nation in total aces (24). Andersohn has also asserted herself as one of the top setters in the league. With 283 total assists on the year (5.90 assists per set), she currently sits in third place in the MEAC in total assists with her assists per set average ranking her in fifth place.
 
Howard's Rya McKinnon comes into the contest as the reigning MEAC Rookie of the Week after recording her first career double-double (13 kills / 10 digs) with a hitting percentage of .300 in Howard's 3-0 win over Albany. During the Bison's 3-0 win over the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina, she hit .526 while tallying 11 kills and six digs.
 
On Sunday, Delaware State will host Norfolk State with the Hornets looking to repeat the 3-0 victories over the Spartans from both games during the 2021 season. While Norfolk State owns the all-time record between these two teams, Delaware State has won the last six matches in a row and have not lost to Norfolk State since the Spartans clinched a 3-2 win over the Hornets in Norfolk, Virginia back on Nov. 4, 2018.
 
Maldonado enjoyed great success in the 2021 series, leading the team in kills (24) with an even 4.00 kills per set and with three assisted blocks, she tallied 25.5 total points scoring 4.25 points per set.
 
Karen Cordero and Valeria Otero finished those games with 17 kills each rounding out the Hornets who notched double-digit kills against the Spartans. Otero found herself in on five assisted blocks joining Lewis in a team-best five total in an effort to stifle the Norfolk State offense.  
 
Norfolk State will look to junior outside hitter Shonte Seale to break the streak the Hornets have over the Spartans. Seale was the only member of Norfolk State to record double digit kills in the 2021 matchups having accounted for 13 of the Spartans' 42 total kills.
 
"Norfolk doesn't give up on points, they make it difficult for their opponents. We're really going to have to stay focused and play point-to-point if we want to come out on top" – Coach Atkinson on playing Norfolk State on Sunday.
The Hornets continue to rank amongst the top in country in team statistical categories in 2022. Coming into Friday's game, Delaware State ranks third in Division I in total service aces (108) as well as fifth in Aces Per Set (2.25). Opponents have been struggling lately against the Hornets defense, Delaware State comes in at 10th in opposition hitting percentage (.139).
 
First serve from Burr Gymnasium on Friday is currently scheduled for 6 p.m. with first serve on Sunday at Memorial Hall scheduled for 3 p.m.