UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Howard volleyball team put on a commanding show as it defeated Clemson, 3-1, on Friday night to open the Penn State Invitational at Rec Hall for its sixth straight win. It was the first win against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in program history.
The Bison bumped its overall record to 10-3 with the victory. It is the program's best start under head coach Shaun Kupferberg since he took over in 2012.
Junior Khaila Donaldson was one kill shy of tying her career-best with 22 kills. She also tallied 14 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Donaldson now has 996 career kills and would be just the fourth Bison in program history to reach 1,000.
Classmate Jessica Young added a career-high 17 kills. Sophomore Tamia Dockery also had a career night with 54 assists. Senior Morgan Marlbrough earned a match-high 22 digs, while senior Katherine Broussard and junior Carlise Cardoza notched 12 and 11 digs, respectively.
As a team, the Bison hit .310 on their way to holding the Tigers to a .182 hitting percentage.
Howard caused Clemson to call the first timeout after it started the match on a 15-9 run in the opening set. The Tigers came out of the break on a mission as they lowered the deficit to 18-15 on a pair of block as the Bison burned a timeout. Howard tallied the next three points on kills by Young and senior Whitney Fields, plus a service ace from Marlbrough. Fields scored the last two tallies with back-to-back kills to win the set, 25-16.
The second set featured 10 ties and four lead changes. The Bison got out to a 13-12 edge but need to use a timeout after the Tigers scored four consecutive points. The two team exchanged points to tie the set five times before Clemson pulled ahead for a 21-19 lead. After heading to the bench, Howard had three straight points thanks to Fields, Young and sophomore Courtney Dalton to force the Tigers to head to the sidelines. The Bison gave up a one-point lead as Clemson closed the set on an ace and pair of Howard attack errors.
After the score was knotted at 6, Howard opened the gap with a 9-3 run that put the squad up 15-9. Even though the Tigers called for time, they could not stop the Bison's momentum and Howard was quickly ahead 20-13 in part to multiple errors by Clemson. Donaldson added a trio of kills to take the set, 25-17.
Once again, the set was kept close in the beginning until the Bison had a slight 9-8 advantage. The Tigers decided to spend a timeout after Howard strung together four straight points for a 14-9 lead. Clemson was able to pull within four, 21-17. The Bison responded with a block by Fields and two kills from Broussard to end the match, 25-20.
Howard will take the court against No. 20 Penn State tomorrow at 10 a.m. before battling Rhode Island at 5 p.m.
