Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Hampton University volleyball team made history on Friday, upending defending conference champion South Carolina State 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 16-25, 25-12) in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championships at Coppin State's Physical Education Complex.

The Lady Pirates (13-13) won their first-ever match in the MEAC Tournament, and advanced to Saturday's semifinal against Northern Division No. 1 seed Maryland Eastern Shore, which beat North Carolina Central in five sets on Friday, at 12 p.m.

SCSU led the first set 6-3, before the Lady Pirates scored seven unanswered points to take a 10-6 lead. The Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to 10-9, before Hampton scored five of the next six to go up 14-10 on another SCSU attack error.

The Lady Bulldogs closed to within two, 19-17, but Hampton closed out the set on a 6-2 run, clinching the first set on a service ace from senior Lihi Elkayam (Misgav, Israel).

South Carolina State led 5-4 in the second set, before the Lady Pirates jumped to a 6-5 lead on a kill from junior Mariah Baylor (Minneapolis, Minn.). Hampton then went up 12-7 after a block from sophomore Petra Parros (Bloomfield, N.J.), freshman Krista Kraskura (Kuldiga, Latvia) and freshman Sonja Maksimovic (Belgrade, Serbia).

Hampton's lead was cut to one, 19-18, later in the set after South Carolina State scored three straight points, but a kill from senior Mianna Armstrong (Lomond, Alberta) stopped the momentum and kept the Lady Pirates on top en route to taking the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Lady Pirates led 5-4 in the third set, but SCSU went on an 8-2 run to take a 12-7 lead and establish control. The lady Bulldogs grew their lead to eight, 21-13, before taking the third set 25-16.

But Hampton responded with a vengeance in the fourth set, opening on an 11-2 run that culminated in a block by Maksimovic and junior Ornela Cadavid (Cali, Colombia). Sophomore Ioana Kalfinova (Sofia, Bulgaria) added a kill later in the set to put the Lady Pirates up 15-3, before Maksimovic followed with a service ace on the next serve.

Baylor and Kraskura teamed on a block to put Hampton up 21-9, before SCSU finally broke double digits. Cadavid clinched Hampton's first MEAC Tournament win, in 10 tries, with a kill to close out the match.

The Lady Pirates hit .223 as a team, thanks to 37 kills and just 14 errors in 103 total attacks. Hampton hit a team-best .429 (nine kills, no errors in 21 attacks) in the fourth set, while also hitting .222 (12 kills, six errors in 27 attacks) in the second set.

South Carolina State (17-16) hit .113 for the match, recording 45 kills and 31 errors in 124 total attacks. The Lady Bulldogs hit a team-best .424 (16 kills, two errors in 33 attacks).

SCSU also held a 9-7 edge in service aces.

Maksimovic led the Lady Pirates with 11 kills, recording just one error in 21 total attacks to hit a team-best .476. Kraskura added 10 kills, while Baylor hit .364 thanks to five kills and one error in 11 attacks, while also assisting on four blocks.

Elkayam had 30 of Hampton's 33 assists, while Armstrong added a team-high 10 digs on defense.

Kraskura and Elkayam each had three service aces.

Desire Waller, the MEAC Player of the Year, led South Carolina State with 18 kills.

To learn more about the MEAC Championships, visit www.MEACsports.com.

For more information on Hampton University volleyball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.