Competing against 14 other HBCUs at the Morgan State University Pre Honda National Challenge Tournament held recently, UMES came away with first place and an unequaled two players being named to the All-Star Team.
Varsity and junior varsity teams representing UMES participated in the event, a preliminary to the National Honda All-Star Challenge slated for March 25-29 in Orlando, Fla.
“I am so very excited about our Varsity team! They competed extremely well, showed poise and great sportsmanship, from cheering on one another to cheering on the other teams present,” said Dr. Hellenna Terrell, head coach for the All-stars and director of the UMES Honors Program. “They will do very well at the national tournament!”
According to Terrell, the competition began with the university’s varsity team advancing on the first day to the Final Four.
The junior varsity team won their first and second matches, only to be defeated in their third match of the day to none other than their varsity counterparts at UMES.
“The Junior Varsity team didn’t surprise me at all,” said Terrell. “They have a tremendous work ethic and are developing into some world-class players. We look forward to watching them grow with the competition and fill the rather large shoes of our Varsity Team!”
In their semi-final match, the UMES varsity team defeated Kentucky State University with a score of 310-50.
The final game was against Howard University with the UMES Hawks defeating Howard in a clean sweep of the best two out of three games with scores of 265-200 and 355-150, respectively.
UMES was the only university with two players named to the All-Star team, which placed the top eight individual scorers against one another.
UMES All-Stars are Meredith Esguerra and Fred Stephens, with Meredith taking the honor of the highest individual player with an average of over 100 points per game played.
