DURHAM, N.C. – Senior outside hitter Arlanda Faulkner ripped a match-high 18 kills in leading the North Carolina Central University volleyball team to a 3-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) triumph over University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday afternoon inside a full LeRoy T. Walker Complex.
 
In a showdown between two programs that entered the day tied for fourth place out of eight teams in the MEAC standings, the Eagles rallied from a first-set loss to pick up their fourth win in their last five matches. NCCU (8-12 Overall, 7-4 MEAC) moved ahead of the Hawks and into a tie for third place in the league standings with Coppin State University. Eastern Shore (11-11, 6-5) slipped to fifth place.
 
Faulkner has provided NCCU with at least 15 kills in six consecutive matches.
 
Senior Ammaarah Williams added another double-digit point performance with a dozen points, including eight kills and a match-high seven blocks (one solo, six assists). Classmate Celene Morris netted six kills while both senior McKayla Young and junior Abby Vacha both tallied five kills.
 
Sophomore setter Lauren Janok once again filled up the box score with 33 assists, 15 digs, six kills, two aces and four block assists. Janok notched her 11th double-double of the season and supplied 10 points.
 
NCCU had a chance to sweep the match with a late 19-15 lead in the first set, but the Hawks finished the set on a 10-3 run to take the early edge.
 
Faulkner and Morris accounted for nine of NCCU's 12 kills in the second set with five and four kills, respectively, as the Eagles started their rally with a five-point win. Janok served up both of her aces in that victorious set.
 
The Eagles flew out to an 11-4 lead in the third and then held off a late Eastern Shore surge to take the game by four points. Vacha highlighted the set with four kills and one ace.
 
The Hawks jumped out to a 5-nil lead to begin the fourth set, but NCCU won the next 10 straight points on Vacha's service rotation to pull ahead for good. Williams participated in all three NCCU blocks in the set and Faulkner tallied her final four kills over that span.
 
The Eagles used a balanced defensive effort to slow down a Hawks attack that hit nearly 100 points lower than when Eastern Shore swept NCCU in Princess Anne, Maryland, three weeks ago. That maroon and gray passing included eight digs by both Morris and redshirt freshman Maria Almeida and seven digs each by Williams and Vacha.
 
Sophomore Maya Hendricks topped Eastern Shore with 15 digs. Senior Marina Cruz chipped in a double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs. Sophomore setter Jalynn Robinson registered 31 assists, nine digs, five kills, four aces and four blocks (one solo, three assists).
 
Up next, NCCU will travel to Washington, D.C., for a MEAC match at Howard University on Friday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m.