Volleyball Season Ends With 3-1 Loss to S.C. State in MEAC Tournament
The Howard volleyball team had its season come to a halt with a 3-1 loss to South Carolina State in the opening round of the MEAC Tournament. The Lady Bison end the 2010 campaign with an 8-20 overall mark.
SC State (15-22), began Set One a little sluggish and went down 3-0 early. The Lady Bulldogs fought back quickly to take the 5-3 lead and never looked back. They increased is margin by as many as seven, 19-7 before going on to Set One, 25-18.
In the second set, HU (8-20) dug itself an early 5-2 deficit. The Lady Bison used an 8-3 run to take the lead at 8-10. SC State then tied the third set at 11 but Howard went on another mini run to jump ahead 11-15. The Lady Bulldogs maintained its poise and used a run of their own to pull within one, 15-16, and forced a Lady Bison timeout. Out of the timeout, SC State went on a 6-4 run to take the 20-21 lead. The teams exchanged the next couple of points before Howard closed the set on a 5-1 run to take Set Two, 25-27, and a 1-1 tie heading into intermission.
Set Three proved to be a defensive set, as neither team managed to go ahead by more than two points at any one time. From the first serve of the set, the teams exchanged points-and-runs with SC State having the last run and eventually pulling out the set 25-23.
After SC State jumped out to 3-1 lead, the fourth and final set became a game of runs. Each team enjoyed several 3-0 runs at different junction of the set beginning with Howard. The Lady Bison used a 5-1 run to take the lead at 6-4 lead. SC State went on a 5-1 run of their own to take the 9-6 lead. The teams then exchanged points for the remainder of the game with SC State pulling out the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.
The Lady had two players to record double-digit kills led by Tosin Elebute with 19. Keri Partridge put down 13 kills and Gazelle d'Artois picked up a team-high 11 digs in the loss.
(Courtesy South Carolina State Media Relations)