CATONSVILLE, Md. - The Tigers went 2-0 on the first day of the Battle of Baltimore Tournament. Towson (7-0) defeated Coppin State 3-0 in its first match of the day and followed that up with a 3-0 win over Morgan State.
"I'm pleased with the tempo of the matches today," said Coach Bruce Atkinson. "We controlled the ball well and got some strong contributions from a number of players today."
Against Coppin State, the Tigers jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the first set behind strong serves from Luana Rocha. Leading 10-4, the Tigers scored 10 straight points behind the service game of Amanda Halls and some strong play at the net. The Tigers would capture the first set 25-5. In the second set leading 19-9, Towson got four straight points behind the serves of Stacey Niehoff. The Tigers would take the second set by a 25-10 score. In the third set, Towson led 6-4 before Halls recorded a kill to get the ball back. The Tigers then would score seven straight points with Halls serving to lead 16-4. Towson would capture the third set by a 25-10 margin.
Towson hit .500 as a team in the match with 11 service aces. Susan Gansor led all players with 11 kills, hit .733 with no errors in 15 attempts and added four blocks. Rachel Gambow finished with nine kills and five digs while Lauren Tonokawa recorded nine digs and two service aces. Halls contributed five kills, five digs, three service aces and three blocks. Haley Beechler finished with seven assists and two digs for Coppin State.
The match with Morgan was a tighter contest. Towson led 8-7 in the first set before an ace by Niehoff made it a 16-11 margin in the set. Towson would claim the 25-12 victory in the set. Towson hit .400 in the second set and claimed a 25-16 win. The Tigers wrapped up the match with a 25-13 win in the third set.
Kelsey Hoefer, Halls and Gansor all recorded eight kills in the match. Tonokawa recorded 11 digs in the match while Niehoff finished with eight service aces and four digs. Evan Schulz contributed 33 assists in the contest. Erin Cox posted seven kills and four digs for Morgan State.
The Tigers return to action on day two of the Battle of Baltimore Tournament which will be held at Morgan State. Towson will face UMBC at 11:00 a.m. and Loyola at 4 p.m. Towson needs two more wins to tie the 2001 and 2002 teams for the best start in program history at 9-0.
-- TIGERS --
