PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Howard volleyball team went a perfect 2-0 on the opening day of the Penn Invitational. The Bison started with a 3-1 (24-26, 25-16, 25-13, 25-19) victory over George Mason before sweeping Penn (25-20, 25-22, 25-19) in the nightcap at the Palestra.
Howard improved to 6-3 on the season with the pair of wins.
HOWARD 3, GEORGE MASON 1
For the second time this season, the Bison took down the Patriots in an opening match of a tournament. Junior Khaila Donaldson led the way with her fourth double-double on 19 kills and 10 digs.
Sophomore Courtney Dalton reached double digits in kills (15) for the third straight match. Classmate Tamia Dockery added 40 assists and senior Morgan Marlbrough notched 16 digs. At the net, senior Whitney Fields tallied her second game with nine blocks.
After a little back and forth to begin the match, Howard strung together four straight points to take a 14-11 lead. Mason pulled within two, 20-18, but needed to use its second timeout to settle. Out of the break, the momentum shifted in favor of the Patriots after consecutive attack errors by the Bison gave them their first lead, 23-22. Three kills and a pair of service aces later, Mason won the set, 26-24.
The Patriots kept the second set close to start but the Bison began to pull away and went up 12-7. Howard kept pounding to go ahead 18-11 on a kill and block by senior Dominique Cleggett and Mason burned its second timeout. The Bison added to their advantage on kills by Dockery and Dalton. Three of Howard's final four points were due to Mason errors, which helped the Bison tie the match at 1-1.
Howard carried its momentum over into the third set with a 6-1 start and early Mason timeout. The Patriots put five consecutive points on the board to cut the lead to four, 15-11, which forced the Bison to call for time. Senior Katherine Broussard served seven straight points as the Bison closed the set on a 10-2 run, which included six errors by Mason.
The Bison took a quick 9-5 edge in the fourth set. After a timeout, Mason bounced back to cut the deficit to two, 14-12, and send Howard to the bench. An attack error by Dockery allowed the Patriots to tie the score at 16. Fields tallied two block assists and a solo rejection to push the lead to 24-18 before Dalton laid down the deciding spike to end the match.
HOWARD 3, PENN 0
Donaldson once again paced the Bison with 16 kills. Young wasn't far behind with 11 kills of her own. Marlbrough and Broussard tallied 18 and 14 digs, respectively. Sophomore Olubunmi Okunade finished with five blocks, while Dockery passed out 39 assists.
Penn took its first timeout of the match after Howard got out to an early 11-7 lead. Back-to-back kills by Donaldson and Fields along with a block from Okunade forced the Quakers to take another timeout with the Bison ahead 17-10. Penn pulled within three on a bad set by Howard but it did not slow the Bison, who took the set, 25-20.
The Bison found themselves trailing 5-1 to open the second set. The Quakers extended their lead to 12-6 to send Howard to the sideline. Penn kept building on its lead, going up by seven, but three kills by Donaldson brought the deficit to 19-15 for a Quaker timeout. Out of the break, Howard tallied four straight points as Fields served up an ace to help lock the score at 20. The Bison got their first lead of the set, 22-20, after Carlise Cardoza added an ace and Donaldson laid down a spike. The Quakers pulled within one but an attack error closed the set in Howard's favor, 25-22.
The third set featured 10 ties and seven lead changes. The score stayed even until the Bison pulled away to 18-13 upper hand, which featured a pair of aces by Broussard and a Penn timeout. Once again, the two team traded points but Howard stayed ahead on kills from Donaldson and Cleggett for a 22-16 lead. Young chipped in two kills to open the gap. Dalton delivered the final kill to take the match for the Bison.
Howard is back on the court tomorrow at noon against Lafayette before wrapping up the tournament against Bucknell at 5 p.m.
