TOWSON, Md. ? Towson University playing its first match at home this season registered a 3-0 win over Maryland on Friday night as part of the Tiger Invitational. The Tigers (9-3) posted just the second ever win in program history over the Terrapins (2-8).
“I felt like this was a huge win for us tonight, not only for the team to get off to a good start but the program in general,” said Coach Paul Koncir. “We need to come out with intensity and a fire and we certainly did especially in the third set.”
“I thought we got good contributions from the whole team tonight,” added Koncir. “Valerie Chromy, Maddie Haseltine and Alysha Fanning all came up big for us in key situations and people like Lindsey Neighbors gave us a lift off the bench.”
Tied at 22-22 in the first set, the Tigers used a time out to get focused and grabbed a 25-23 win. In the second game, Towson jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in set two and never trailed en route to the 25-20 victory. The Tigers used a 16-9 advantage in the third set to propel their way to a 25-21 victory and the match.
Haseltine continued to play a strong game as she had 12 kills and hit .500 for the match. Fanning had eight kills, hit .636 and registered four blocks in the match. Sophomore Katee Luecke just missed a “double-double” performance as she finished with 30 assists and nine digs. Chromy had eight kills, six assists and two block assists. Junior Missy Rohrbaugh tied Luecke for the team lead in digs with nine.
Maryland was led by Katie Usher's 11 kills while Hayley Hanson dished out 19 assists and Sharon Strizak had 16 assists.
The Tigers have now won four in a row and look to keep the win streak alive on day two of the Tiger Invitational. Towson will face North Dakota (13-1), who was a 3-0 winner over Lehigh on Friday, at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Tigers will then wrap up the tournament with a 7 p.m. match against Lehigh.
