As usual I attempt to be as accurate as possible regarding accounts of this match, and in terms of terminology. I try to add defensive plays when I can but I can only write so fast. The exclusion of most defensive plays is merely a time issue and I will keep trying to cover it more.

The University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks were visiting as part of the Sacred Heart Invitational and the home Pioneers would play their first match of the day against them.

Sacred Heart pulled out to a 1-0 lead when UMES hit the ball over and out of bounds, but a Pioneer served out of bounds would even the score at 1-1. Sacred Heart would pick up the next point when Kendra Sloan spiked the ball in and the defense knocked it out of bounds. Eastern Shore’s Whitney Johnson would respond with a spike of her own untouched by the D to SHU’s left side to even the score again. Johnson’s attack the next play would bounce of the Pioneer defense and out as well. Christina Estebane would then serve the ball over for the Hawks, and the defense would also hit that out of bounds without returning it to make it 2-4 on the Ace. The next Eastern Shore serve would hit the net to hand SHU a point, but their serve would sail over and out to give UMES a point and the serve. The defense would block an SHU spike to pick up a sixth point, but Sacred Heart’s Christine Duffy would knock a ball from the back court off the defense to the floor to get a point for her side.

Adora Luster would tap a ball over the net to get the Hawks another point, and SHU would spike a ball out of bounds for the eight point for the visitors. Luster’s serve would be unreturnable by SHU and the score was 4-9 off of her ace. SHU’s Courtney Kidd-Kadlubek would respond with a huge spike that the defense couldn’t return, but Holiday Eller of UMES would spike a ball over on the next play to bring the score to 5-10. Duffy would score a point for the pioneers with a hit over that the D couldn’t return. SHU would spike the next ball over the net barely inbounds for another point. The Hawks would knock a return out of bounds to make it 8-10. On the next play Alex Bavasi and Duffy went up for a block which scored Sacred heart a 9^th point.

Maryland Eastern Shore’s Estebane would respond with a knock just over the net that the defense couldn’t get to. Samantha Chukwura smashed a spike in on the next play, and Johnson had a huge spike that was untouched into the SHU zone for the third straight Hawk point. Chukwura would add to the streak with a block to make it 9-14. However, on the next rally, Duffy’s block would lead to UMES not being able to return the ball and it was 10-14.

Following a big rally Johnson scored another point for the Hawks on a hit over the net, but Kendra Sloan would smash a ball over for SHU to make it 11-15. A chaotic scene ensued at the net on the next point, but the Pioneers couldn’t return a ball, and it was 11-16. Sacred Heart’s Mydori Saipale would tap a ball just into a gap in the UMES defense following that, and Annie Archer would do tap another hit into another defensive gap after that and it was 13-16. Archer blocked a ball next and the Eastern Shore D couldn’t get it back over. The Hawks would then return the ball twice over and out of bounds and the score was tied 16-16.

Sacred Heart’s Archer and Sloan came up with a block to put SHU into the lead. But, Johnson would even the score for the Hawks on the next play. Following a big defensive save though, UMES would hit a ball over and out of bounds and it was 18-17 Sacred Heart. Kidd-Kadlubek spiked it over untouched to make it 19-17, but Caylin Woodward would return the favor for Eastern Shore and it was 19-18. SHU scored another point, but served into the net to make it 20-19. It was 21-19 following a Hawks defensive error, but Eastern Shore picked up a point on a Sacred Heart error. Estebane and Luster blocked the ball in to tie the score for Maryland Eastern Shore.

The Hawks would hit a ball over and out, but SHU would also return a ball over and out and the score was 22-22. SHU would spike the ball over and the defense could only knock it into the seats, to give the Pioneers a 1 point lead. Duffy’s serve would roll off the D for the Ace and it was 24-22. Eastern Shore’s Johnson tapped a ball over the net, and it was 24-23, but Sloan spiked a ball into a gap in the defense for SHU to make it 25-23.

Eastern Shore’s Woodward would respond with a huge spike by the diving Pioneer defender for a 25-24 score, and UMES picked up another point to tie the game again. Sacred Heart knocked a ball over and out to give the Hawks the lead 25-26. After this a time out was called.

Following the time out, the Hawks returned a ball just in bounds, as the D didn’t go for it, and the score was 25-27. A big rally ensured, until SHU’s Saipale knocked a ball over the net which bounced off the D and into the service zone. With it 26-27 another time out was called. Archer and Kidd-Kadlubek blocked a ball for SHU and it was 27-27. UMES then gave up a point with a four hits error. The Pioneers served into the net and the score was tied at 28. The Hawks would have trouble on the next play and gave up another point, and would suffer a two hits error to lose the point and the match 30-28. SHU 1, UMES, 0.

The next game started with the Pioneers knocking two returns into the net to give Eastern shore an 0-2 lead. Kendra Sloan responded with a spike knocked off a block to give the Pioneers a point. Following a big rally, the Hawks knocked a spike over and out and it was 2-2. Holiday Eller spiked a ball off the diving defense to give the Hawks another point, and she repeated a spike off the D to make it 2-4. Following SHU hitting it over the net, Eastern Shore’s Adora Luster dived for the ball, but the return carried all the way over the net and the Pioneers couldn’t manage to return it. Eastern Shore’s Samantha Chukwura smashed a ball to left corner of the SHU zone to make it 2-6, but the Hawks served into the net on the next play. Chukwura would tap a ball over the net though to make it 3-7 and lead to a time out. SHU’s Annie Archer spiked a ball over which bounced off the D to the right out of bounds area, but Eller would hit a ball in to where the D couldn’t get to it. The Hawks would hit another ball out of bounds, and Christine Duffy would come up with a huge spike to bring SHU up to 6 points. Christina Estebane set a ball over the net on the next rally, and the Pioneer D couldn’t return it, but Archer knocked in a ball to make it 7-9. Whitney Johnson brought the Hawks another big spike that only glanced off the defense. On the ensuing play Johnson spiked a ball in again and it was hit out of bounds by the defenders. Duffy responded by hitting a ball over for an SHU point, but UMES would take their 12^th point when SHU hit it out and over. The Hawk serve flew off of the defense’s set attempts for the ace and it was 8-13.

The visitors hit a ball out of bounds to make it 9-13, and the Pioneers picked up two more points after that. The scoring run was put to an end by Eller and it was 11-14. Her teammate Luster would serve a ball which would bounce off the D to the floor and it was 11-15 of another Hawk ace. A UMES block would bring them an 11-16 lead, but they would block another ball out of bounds to give SHU a point. Their next block, by Eller would gain them a point. Caylin Woodward’s would pick up an ace when her serve was knocked out of bounds by the D to bring the Hawks to 18. A time out was called with the score 12-18. The Hawks came out swinging with a block to make it 12-19, and SHU hit a ball out of bounds to make it 12-20. The visitors surrendered a point with a two hit error, but SHU served into the net to make it 13-21. Two more blocks brought the Hawks two more points. SHU hit a ball through a block however and it was 14-23. The visitors struggled to get a ball set to return it and it was 15-23 on the next play.

Whitney Johnson smashed a ball over the net for the Hawks to stop the scoring run, and the Pioneers couldn’t return a ball on the next rally. After another point, Eastern Shore hit into the net handing SHU a 16^th point, but Johnson spiked a ball of the home defense to make it 16-27. The Pioneers picked up a pair of points on defensive errors, but the Hawks scored to make it 18-28. Duffy had a big spike and the UMES block failed to stop it. Another point came SHU’s way and it was 20-28. Johnson smashed a ball over the net to make it 20-29. With it game point, a big rally ensured, but the Hawks hit a ball over and out. Woodward would end the game with a big spike to Sacred Heart’s left corner to end it 21-30. SHU 1, UMES 1.

Game three began with each side serving the all out of bounds. Eastern Shore picked up a point on a spike and Johnson ended a big rally on the next play with a spike, untouched by the D to the floor to make it 1-3. SHU returned a ball out of bounds, but would pick up a point of their own off a huge spike from Saipale. Johnson responded with a massive spike to make it 2-5. The Pioneers hit the ball out of bounds in various ways 3 straight times until Kendra Sloan smashed a ball through the UMES block to stop the scoring run and make it 3-8. The Hawks picked up a point off of the Pioneers hitting out of bounds a gain though, though SHU picked a point up right back, and Archer spiked through a block to get it to 5-9. UMES picked up points on some Pioneer D errors before Duffy spiked a ball in for SHU’s sixth point. With it 6-11, the two sides traded points including when Kidd Kadlubek tapped a ball over for a Sacred Heart point to make it 7-14. Chukwura came up with a big spike to make it 7-15, but Sloan and Bavasi blocked their way to a point for SHU. Eller would spike a ball in to keep SHU doubled up. At 8-16 a time out was called.

Maryland Eastern Shore served a ball over and out of bounds leading to another time out. Estebane tapped a ball in to bring the score to 9-17, but Archer slammed a ball in untouched to make it 10-17. The following Pioneer serve bounced off the defense and out of bounds for an SHU ace. The Hawks would have a two hit error on the next play and it was 12-17. The Pioneers would serve into the net, and Estebane would serve a ball which would hit off the D to the floor for an ace, and another point would follow that. The scoring continued with Johnson spiking it in, Estebane continued to serve and knocked a ball which skimmed the net and hit a gap in the Defense. On the next play Luster and Woodward went up for a block, and it was 12-23. The scoring run continued with a big rally, before Johnson tapped the ball into a gap. A time out was called at 12-24. Following that Archer stopped the bleeding for the Pioneers with a spike which UMES couldn’t block. Johnson hit yet another spike into a gap to bring it to 13-25 though. They would serve into the net on the next play, but Luster’s hit on the next play would not be returned. Kidd-Kadlubek would tap a ball in to score SHU another point, but the Pioneers would give one up on the next play. The teams would trade points and it would reach 16-28. The Pioneers would score once more when the Hawks hit a ball out of bounds, but the Hawks would finish the game on two SHU errors, and the final score was 17-30. SHU 1, UMES 2.

Game four began with a big rally, until the Pioneers picked up a point. Saipale tapped a ball into the tap for another SHU point, but the Hawks fought back with a spike just in bounds to make it 2-1. A Pioneer hit out of bounds lead to a 2-2 tie, and they would hit a return into the net to give the Hawks the lead. A time out was called, and UMES came out of it by spiking the ball out of bounds. Eller hit a ball of the SHU defense to take the lead for the Hawks again, but Archer spiked a ball in which the defense hit out of bounds to tie the game again. Sacred Heart hit a ball over and out of bounds, and Johnson blocked a ball for a 4-6 score. SHU picked up a point, and then Saipale served a ball off the D for an ace to tie it at 6. Johnson had a big spike for a point for Eastern Shore, but Archer responded for SHU with a huge spike, which the D only could hit out of bounds. Johnson continued to score with a tap over the net, but Duffy knocked a ball over just in bounds to make it 8-8. Following some sort of UMES error, Sacred Heart had a 9-8 lead, but a spike from Eller would tie up the game again. The point trading continued with a Pioneer hit out of bounds, but a Duffy smash to tie the game again.

Eastern Shore’s Woodward would smash a ball off the home defense who hit it out of bounds, but Saipale came right back with a smash of her own off the D. The Hawks would struggle to get a ball over the net and SHU had the lead 12-11, but Eller spiked a ball in to tie the game. The point trading came to an end when Eller served a ball which bounced off the D and out of bounds. SHU then hit another ball out of bounds and it was 12-14. UMES committed an error though and the score was 13-14, but the Hawks picked up a pair of points on a Johnson spike, and an Pioneer hit out of bounds. The Hawks served into the net though and then committed a 2 hits penalty to bring the score to 15-16. On the next rally, Woodward literally rolled amidst her hit, and the ball sailed over the net and was not returned by the D. On the next play she smashed a ball from the UMES left to the SHU left gap. Johnson also spiked a ball left to the SHU left to extend the lead 15-19. The Hawks hit a ball out of bounds, and SHU responded by serving into the net, which was followed up by UMES serving into the net, and it was 17-20. SHU couldn’t return a ball, and it was 17-21, but Eastern Shore served into the net to bring the score to 18-21. Eller picked up a point for UMES on the next rally though, Bavasi spiked a ball in for an SHU point, but the Pioneers hit a ball over and out on the next point. With it 19-23, Woodward hit it over and the D knocked it out of bounds to their right. Saipale hit a ball through the UMES block to make it 20-24.

Chukura would come up with a spike for a point, and Luster would tap a ball in for another. A four hits error would give UMES another point, and a block their 28^th. Johnson would make the score 20-29 with a spike in, though Archer would fight back with a spike of her own that UMES would hit out of bounds. The Pioneers would hit the next ball over and out of bounds to lose the game 21-30 and the match. 3-1.

(Based on eyewitness account, but some checking against play by play is done.)