BALTIMORE, Md. – The third time was the charm.

Saturday marked the third straight year in which the Hampton University volleyball team made it to the semifinal round of the MEAC Championships, but the Lady Pirates made history with a 3-1 (17-25, 25-11, 25-18, 25-17) win over Howard in Coppin State's Physical Education Complex.

The Lady Pirates (18-10) advanced to their first-ever MEAC Tournament championship match. They will face either Florida A&M or Coppin State in the championship final on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Hampton, which won its last conference title in 1990 in the CIAA, has won five straight matches.

Junior rightside Vendula Strakova (Brno, Czech Republic), the MEAC Player of the Year, led the way with 17 kills, while junior outside hitter Sonja Maksimovic (Belgrade, Serbia) added 11 kills and hit .320 for the match.

Strakova, who also had a career-high nine aces, is two kills shy of 1,000 for her Hampton career.

Senior middle blocker Petra Parros (Bloomfield, N.J.) had eight kills and went error-free for the second straight match, hitting .571.

Senior setter Bibiany Fonseca (Uberlandia, Brazil) had 35 of Hampton's 37 assists, while senior libero Sheileen Pagan (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico) had a team-high 11 digs on defense. Junior outside hitter Krista Kraskura (Kuldiga, Latvia) had 10 digs.

Howard hit .357 in the first set, recording 13 kills and three errors in 28 total attacks. The Lady Bison led 9-3, before Hampton fought back and cut Howard's lead to 12-8. But the Lady Bison answered with a 6-2 run to take an 18-10 lead.

The Lady Pirates closed the gap to within seven on a few occasions, but Howard held on to take the first set.

Hampton responded by hitting .476 in the second set, with 11 kills and one error in 28 attacks. The Lady Pirates led 4-1 after an ace from Strakova, and they later led 8-4 after an ace from Pagan. Howard scored four of the next five points to cut the lead to 9-8, before back-to-back kills from Strakova put Hampton up 11-8.

Howard scored the next point, before the Lady Pirates scored four straight to take a 15-9 lead. The Lady Bison scored the next two points to cut the lead to 15-11, but Hampton dominated the remainder of the set, closing with a 10-0 run to tie the match at 1-1 after a kill from Kraskura.

Strakova had six aces in that run, including five in a row.

Howard led 6-4 early in the third set, and then later 8-5. The Lady Pirates scored the next four points to take a 9-8 lead on a Maksimovic kill, before the two teams exchanged points on the next five rallies.

Howard cut the gap to 14-13, before the Lady Pirates scored the next five points to take a 19-13 lead on another kill from Maksimovic. Howard then went on a 4-0 spurt to cut the gap to 19-17, but Hampton ended the set on a 6-1 run to take the 25-18 win and the 2-1 lead.

The Lady Bison led early in the fourth set, up 6-3, before the Lady Pirates began fighting back, going on a 9-3 run to take a 12-9 lead after Kraskura and junior middle blocker Marija Kocevska (SkopjeKarpos, Macedonia) teamed on a block.

Howard cut the lead to 12-10 on the next point, before Hampton went on a 7-2 run to take a 19-12 lead.

After the Lady Bison cut the lead to 19-14, the Lady Pirates scored six of the last nine points to take the fourth set 25-17 and win the match – their third of the season over Howard and their 12th straight in the series.

The Lady Pirates hit .296 (42 kills, 13 errors in 98 attacks) for the match, while holding Howard to just .115 (39 kills, 26 errors in 113 attacks) – marking the 17th time this season Hampton has held a team under .200 hitting.

Hampton held a 14-3 edge in aces and a 12.0-7.0 advantage in blocks.

Assata Conway led Howard (21-11) with 10 kills.

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.