Erin Cox tallied a career- and match-high 26 kills on Friday night.
Coppin State 1, Morgan State 3
BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 16, 2009)-The Morgan State volleyball team held its inaugural 'DiG PiNK' match for breast cancer awareness on Friday night and earned a 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22) Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference North Division victory over cross-town rival Coppin State in front of a crowd of 458 at Hill Field House.
With the victory, Morgan State improved to 48-3 all-time against Coppin State and recorded its 43rd consecutive win over the Eagles. However, the Lady Bears, who haven't lost to Coppin State since Sept. 15, 1980 after forfeiting a match to the Eagles during the Morgan State Tri-match, did have their eight-match streak of sweeping Coppin in three sets come to an end.
Morgan State's victory, which also ended a season-long seven-match losing skid, was the Lady Bears' first MEAC win of the season and just the second conference win in their last 10 MEAC contests dating back to last season.
Morgan State (6-17, 1-2 MEAC) was led by Erin Cox, who tallied a career-high 26 kills. Cox, who had a .352 hitting percentage for the match, also added a career- and match-high three service aces. Cox wasn't the only Lady Bear to have a career night, as Dominique Bozier recorded a career-high 12 kills, while Christa Rogers notched a career-high with 49 assists. Rhyan Shy finished with 10 kills and 13 digs to earn her first double-double of the season and third of her career and Dina Beamon collected a match-high 22 digs.
Coppin State (1-22, 0-3 MEAC), which has now lost 22 consecutive MEAC matches, was led by Ashley Saunders' 13 kills and Kanishia Sheppard added 11 kills. Jazmin Brown had a team-leading 12 digs, Jade Dudley tallied 11 digs and Tricia Baczek finished with 35 assists.
The Lady Bears finished with a season-best 55 kills for the match and had a hitting percentage of .232. The visiting Eagles totaled 50 kills for a hitting percentage of .193. Macie Wyly and Bozier led Morgan State with three blocks apiece to help the Lady Bears to a 7-6 blocking advantage over Coppin State.
Morgan State returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 18, when it travels to Dover, Del., to take on the Hornets of Delaware State in a MEAC North Division match. First serve is slated for 3 p.m. at Memorial Hall.
