ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – Elizabeth City State volleyball came out strong with a first-set win, but Bowie State rallied to take the next three sets as the Vikings fell 3-1 (25-20, 15-25, 18-25, 25-27) Monday evening inside the R.L. Vaughan Center.

The Vikings (0-10, 0-2 CIAA) opened the match with confidence, hitting .355 as a team in the opening frame while limiting Bowie State to a .148 clip. Andrea Rose led the charge early with several key kills, and Raven Bailey contributed a service ace that helped ECSU secure the 25-20 first-set victory.

Bowie State (3-10, 1-1 CIAA) responded with efficient play in the second and third sets, hitting .385 and .321 respectively to swing momentum in their favor. The Bulldogs closed out the match in a tightly contested fourth set, edging ECSU 27-25 behind clutch kills from Lyric Snowden and Nina Edwards.

Rose paced the Vikings with 12 kills, while Jorja Hoffman added nine and Clarke Blakemore chipped in eight. Serenity Lunnermon tallied 26 assists, and Bailey anchored the defense with a team-high 15 digs. From the service line, Sydnee White delivered four aces to spark ECSU's scoring runs.

As a team, ECSU finished with 39 kills, 37 assists, 43 digs, and 16 service aces.

The Vikings will return to action for the CIAA Round Up #1 hosted by Fayetteville State. The Vikings open up the round up on Friday, facing Winston Salem State and Johnson C. Smith before closing out the weekend against Claflin on Saturday.