Box Score MONTGOMERY— Alabama State hosted the ASU Invitational Volleyball tournament with today representing the first day of the two day event.

ASU faced Troy and Maryland-Eastern Shore in today's action with the final match of the day coming against Maryland-Eastern Shore (12-1) who was able to win a hard fought 3-0 victory over the Lady Hornets.
 
The first set was a sign of things to come as both teams were even at 14.  That is when UMES would go on a 6-0 run and push the lead to 20-14 and go on to win the first set going away at 25-17.
 
The second half saw UMES slowly pull away and lead by their widest margin at 20-9.  Again, ASU would not go away and put on a mini run of their own closing the lead down to 21-15 before UMES could put away the final four points for the 25-15 win.
 
The third set was a heated battle that saw UMES lead all the way, but could never get free from ASU.  The Lady Hornets trailed 21-19, and again, UMES would secure the serve and put the set away with the final four points in the 25-19 win.
 
Rachel Smith led ASU in the game with nine kills.  She also had four digs and a blocked shot.  Brooke Beasley had 24 assists and Luiza Griz had 11 digs.
 
For UMES, Victoria Williams had the high in kills with 11.  She also had an ace and a block.  Jessie Vicic had 37 assists, which was the game high.
 
ASU faced in-state rival Troy University in their first game of the day and the third game of the tourney.  Troy was able to pull out a 3-0 win that was a little closer than the final scores would indicate.
 
Set one saw the Trojans slowly pull away for a 25-12 win, but in game two with Troy leading 18-16, a small 3-0 run by the Trojans pushed Troy into a 21-16 lead.  ASU came right back to cut the lead to 23-22 with the serve.  A serve from Chelsey Scott was ruled in by the lines judge, but was overruled by the head official and that gave Troy a 24-22 lead.  The Trojans would go on to finish the set at 25-22.
 
The third game saw the two team's battle back and forth and with the score even at 14, Troy went on a 6-0 run to push the lead out to 20-14.  They would not look back in finishing the set and game at 25-15.
 
Rachel Smith led ASU with a game-high 12 kills and she had six digs.  Brooke Beasley had 18 assists and Anniiya Robinson had 14 digs and Luiza Griz had 13.
 
Blair Winston had 10 kills to lead Troy.  Alexandra Alexander had a game-high 32 assists and Courtney Cohen had 15 digs.
 
“The girls played through a lot of adversity and showed what they were made of in these games today,” Head Coach Penny Lucas-White said.  “I thought they kept their focus and once again, they never quit.  We were in every set we played today against two very good teams.  There is a reason both Troy and UMES have good records and that is because they are good, seasoned and well coached teams.”
 
“Even though I saw the fight in my team, we still make too many errors and give away too many points.  We have to find a way to tighten that up as we make our way into SWAC competition next week.  We have two more games tomorrow and I expect my team to come out here and pick up where they left off by playing hard and working on getting better.”
 
The first game of the tournament saw the teams with the best overall records playing each other as reigning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions Maryland-Eastern Shore faced North Texas.
 
It was a five set game with UMES pulling out the thriller 25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 25-18 and 15-13 in the fifth set.
 
Maline Vaitai led UMES with a game-high 21 kills while also chipping with nine digs and three blocks.  Teammates Victoria Williams (18) and Bridget Ebster-Schwarzenberger (15) also hit double-digits in kills.  Jessie Vicic had a game-high 61 assists.
 
Courtney Windham led UNT (10-5) with 19 kills and three blocks.  Carnae Dillard and Karissa Flac had 13 kills each.
 
The second game of the day saw Tennessee-Martin pull out a 3-1 win over fellow SWAC member Jackson State.  The game was close as UTM came from behind in sets one and two for 27-25 and 25-21 wins.  JSU came back to take the third set 25-13 before UTM closed out the game with a 25-17 win in set four.
 
Lynsey Hazelwood led the winners with a game-high 16 kills.  She also had two aces and eight digs.  Brandy Dennis had 35 assists and Chelsea Bowles had 28 digs.
 
JSU's Miayla Rolle had 10 kills and a game-high eight blocks.  Jenna Siddiqui had a game-high 40 assists.
 
North Texas (11-5) defeated UT Martin (2-9) 3-1 in an exciting four set game.  UNT easily won the first set 25-15 and was ahead 20-9 in the second set when a UTM timeout begin to turn things around.  Even though the Skyhawks did not win the second set they did come back to make it close at 25-21.
 
Set three saw UTM carry their momentum over and won the set 25-16.  Set four saw UNT jump out 15-9 only to see UTM come back and even the score at 16.  From there the two teams battled back and forth before UNT was able to win the set 25-23.
 
Courtney Windham led UNT with a game-high 20 kills.  She also had four blocks.  May Allen had 21 assists and Shelby Tamura had 25 digs.
 
Lynsey Hazelwood led UTM with a double-double consisting of 11 kills and 12 digs.  Emily Keaton had a strong game with 10 kills, seven digs and five service aces.
 
Troy (8-5) and Jackson State (2-9) faced off in the 5 p.m. game with the Trojans winning 3-0.  Devin Von Pingel led a balanced Trojan attack with 11 kills and three blocks.  Alexandra Alexander had a team and game-high 31 assists and Courtney Cohen had a game-high in digs with 17.
 
Christine Edwards had a game-high 12 kills and added two blocked shots.  Jenna Siddiqui had 22 assists and Kameron Boggan and Dana Yoshimura had seven digs each.
 
Tomorrow's action will begin at 9 a.m. with Maryland-Eastern Shore facing Troy at 9 a.m.  ASU (0-14) will face UT-Martin at 1 p.m. and North Texas in the tournament's final game at 6 p.m.