Howard Comeback Falls Short; Falls to Delaware State 3-2
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Down 2-0 to Delaware State in a conference matchup on Friday evening, the Howard volleyball team came from behind to tie the match at two before dropping the deciding fifth game and fell, 3-2 at Burr Gymnasium.
Junior Gazelle d'Artois paced the Bison attack with her first triple-double of the season. She had a team-high 15 kills, 10 assists and added 10 digs as HU moved into a tie with DSU in league play with the 25-14, 25-19, 18-25, 19-25, 15-11 loss.
Junior Nicole Brown (12), sophomore Gabrielle Martin (12) and sophomore Tosin Elebute (10) also had double-digit digs.
Sophomore Taylor Johnson finished with seven kills, three blocks and two digs and junior Keri Partridge had five kills.
Delaware State (12-11, 2-1 MEAC) got a match-high 18 kills from Cassandra Joyner. Elisa Herman and Martina Ferrari chipped in 11 digs each while Erica Tajchman contributed 10.
The Lady Hornets started pulling away at the lead in the first set at 10-10. Delaware State scored six straight points during a run in which Tajchman had four service aces. DSU had its largest lead at 22-12 after capitalizing on a Bison attack error.
The second set saw a tie at 10-10 but Howard wasn't able to pull away. A kill by Joyner opened up a seven-point lead for DSU at 23-17 and the Lady Hornets seized the game to build the 2-0 advantage.
The third set was a different story as the Bison hit .333 (12-3-27) to shave the deficit to one. A Partridge kill off a set by d'Artois gave Howard a 21-17 lead heading into a Delaware State timeout. A pair of kills by Johnson gave HU the 25-18 win.
After trailing 2-1 early in the fourth set, Howard never relinquished the lead and took a five-point advantage midway thru the stanza on a kill by Elebute. Kills by d'Artois and Johnson spurred a DSU timeout at 21-18 and after a Bison service error, Howard rattled off four straight points to claim the set win at 25-19.
The fifth and pivotal set featured six tie scores. After the score was knotted at 10-10, the Hornets slowly pulled away at the lead after a pair of kills by Joyner gave Delaware State a 14-11 lead.
Howard (6-20, 2-1 MEAC) travels to Hampton, Va. on Sunday for a conference match against the Pirates.