HARRISONBURG, Va. – In beating both George Washington and Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday at the Sinclair Gymnasium, the Hampton University volleyball team won a share of the James Madison Invitational title.
 
Three Lady Pirates were named to the All-Tournament Team, and senior Vendula Strakova (Brno, Czech Republic) was named Tournament MVP. Seniors Krista Kraskura (Kuldiga, Latvia) and Sonja Maksimovic (Belgrade Serbia) were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Hampton beat George Washington 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23) in the morning match, before sweeping Southeastern Louisiana 3-0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-15) in the evening.
 
"We really showed resilience and endurance today," head coach Karen Weatherington said. "Today was a great bounce-back. We were able to pull together the fight it takes to win.
 
"Our seniors really stepped up. We're learning more and more about ourselves every match."
 
Strakova set a new school record against George Washington, tallying 32 kills to set the program mark for most kills in a four-set match. She holds the program record for kills in a match in all three, four, and five sets.
 
She hit a team-best .333.
 
Maksimovic added 13 kills against the Colonials, and Kraskura racked up yet another double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs. Senior Kitija Megne (Kuldiga, Latvia) also had a double-double with 50 assists and a team-high 14 digs.
 
She has at least 50 assists in three of Hampton's seven matches so far this season.
 
The Lady Pirates (5-2) hit .247 for the match, with 60 kills and 21 errors in 158 attacks.
 
Hampton and George Washington were tied 8-8 early in the first set, before the Colonials went on a 6-2 run to take a 14-10 lead. GW held that lead for much of the match and held a 21-18 lead late. But the Lady Pirates scored the next five points to take a 23-21 lead on a GW attack error.
 
The Colonials cut that lead to one, but the Lady Pirates got a kill from Strakova and a kill from Maksimovic to clinch the set 25-23.
 
That momentum carried over into the second set, and the Lady Pirates led 8-1 after a kill from Strakova. A kill from Kraskura later in the set put Hampton up 10-3, and Strakova later added a kill to put the Lady Pirates ahead 16-12.
 
But the Colonials rattled off the next nine points to take a 21-16 lead, and all told, George Washington closed the second set on a 13-2 run to take the set and tie the match at 1-1.
 
Hampton shrugged that off to open the third set, taking an 8-3 lead after back-to-back aces from junior Allysa Medina (Menifee, Calif.). GW clawed its way back into the set, and the Colonials eventually took a 19-18 lead.
 
But the Lady Pirates answered with a 7-2 run to end the set, taking it 25-21.
 
The fourth set was tied at 13-13, before the Lady Pirates scored the next five points to go up 18-13. The Colonials answered with an 8-1 run, taking a 21-19 lead.
 
Hampton scored the next three points to take a 22-21 lead, before GW tied the set at 22-22. Maksimovic recorded a kill on the next rally, before Strakova added a kill of her own to put the Lady Pirates up 24-22. GW clawed within one again, before Strakova put away the set and the match.
 
Strakova tallied 14 kills in the evening sweep over Southeastern Louisiana, while Megne racked up yet another double-double with 28 assists and a team-high 13 digs. Kraskura was one kill shy of another double-double; she had nine kills and 12 digs.
 
The Lady Pirates held a 10.0-7.0 edge in blocks.
 
"Our outsides gave us great attacking," Weatherington said, "but today's highlight was the middle blockers (Kenney, senior Marija Kocevska, and freshman Tatyana Thomas). They each filled a huge role blocking and affecting our opponents' middles. I'm proud they were able to lead our defensive effort."
 
Hampton jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the first set after Strakova and Kocevska teamed on a block, and a kill from Maksimovic later in the set put the Lady Pirates up 16-4. Maksimovic later added an ace to put Hampton up 20-6.
 
The Lions cut the lead to 21-9 before the Lady Pirates scored the last four points to take a dominating first set. Strakova had two kills in that run.
 
Hampton hit a match-best .379 (13 kills, two errors in 29 attacks) in the first set.
 
That momentum rolled into the second set, as Hampton had a 5-3 lead before rattling off five straight points to go up 10-3 after a kill from Strakova. Southeastern Louisiana cut the lead to 12-6 before the Lady Pirates scored the next five points to go up 17-6 on a Kocevska and Maksimovic block.
 
The Lions cut the lead to 19-10, but the Lady Pirates scored six of the last seven points, taking the set 25-11 after Strakova and redshirt freshman Kennedy Kenney (Milpitas, Calif.) teamed on a block.
 
Southeastern Louisiana led 7-2 early in the third set, before the Lady Pirates snatched away the momentum and went on an 11-4 run to take a 13-11 lead following a solo block from Kraskura. The Lions later cut that lead to 17-14.
 
But the Lady Pirates responded by closing the match with an 8-1 run, wrapping up the set and the match on a Lion service error.
 
"Teams are coming after us and we are responding well," Weatherington said. "We know to take each match, each point, each play one at a time. Championship volleyball takes maximum effort every day."
 
The Lady Pirates will hit the road to take on Radford on Tuesday at 7 p.m. 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.