UNIVERSITY PARK, PA --- One of the best season in Howard women's volleyball history came to an end Friday evening as the Bison lost its NCAA Tournament First Round match, 3-0 (25-16, 25-8, 25-17) to No. 7 Penn State.

Despite the Bison's breakthrough campaign being halted by the two-time defending national champions, the takeaways from the game and the season were more positive than negative.

Sophomore outside hitter Khaila Donaldson had a team-high 10 kills in the match for the Bison (18-14), who advanced to the NCAA Tournament after winning the 2015 Mid-Eastern Athetic Conference (MEAC) Championship for the first time since 1994 and eighth time overall. Donaldson ended the year on a nine-match double-digit scoring streak,dating back to October 23. Junior libero Morgan Marlbrough tied the match high of ten digs and came only seven seven digs shy of 500 for the season. Freshman setter Tamia Dockery set up 18 points in the match and junior middle blocker Dominique Cleggett had three total blocks (all assists) to lead Howard.

The Bison opened the match as well as an underdog could aganst Penn State (27-5), forcing 11 ties and six lead changes as HU went point for point with PSU in the fist set. A kill by freshman outside hitter Courtney Dalton put Howard ahead 12-11 - its latest lead of the match. The Nittany Lions would take the lead back and hold it for good in the first after going on a 14-4 run.

PSU matched that Set 1 output in the second set by again outscoring Howard 14-4 before forcing a Bison timeout. Another 11-4 spurt to close the set put HU in a difficult 0-2 hole.

Refusing to go down quietly, Howard put Penn State on notice by opening the third set with a 6-1 surge. However, the difference between the veteran Nittany Lions and the youthful Bison was its consistency in big moments, so Penn State stayed calm and rattled off five straight points to tie the match at 6-6.

Matching 4-0 runs by Howard & PSU knotted the match for the final time at 10-10 before the Bison were outscored 15-6 to end the match.

Howard will look to take another step in 2016 - after going from MEAC semis (2013) to MEAC Finals ('14) to MEAC champions & NCAA participants ('15) - with only one player leaving the program, senior Jaleeza Stoudermire.