Macie Wyly finished with a career-high 12 kills and had a match-high five blocks in Sunday's win at Hampton.
HAMPTON, Va. (Nov. 8, 2009)-Heading into Sunday afternoon's season finale at Hampton, the Morgan State volleyball team knew that they needed to win in order to advance to the upcoming Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship. A loss and the Lady Bears would be eliminated for the second consecutive season.
Erin Cox recorded a double-double with a match-high 16 kills and added a career-high 20 digs, Ivanti Bush tallied her fifth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 13 digs and Macie Wyly added a career-high 12 kills to lead Morgan State to a 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 24-26, 25-19) victory over Hampton in a MEAC North Division match at Holland Hall.
With the victory, Morgan State, which improved to 9-21, 4-6 in the MEAC, swept the season series and avenged last season's losses to the Lady Pirates. The Lady Bears are now in a three-way tie with Howard and Hampton and will await the league's tie breaker scenarios to determine which of the two teams will secure the final two spots in the North Divison and advance to the league championship.
A year ago the Lady Bears found themselves in the same situation needing to defeat Hampton in the season finale at Hill Field House in no more than four games to secure the fourth and final spot by way of a point system. However, the Lady Bears would fall to Hampton in five games and would not reach the league championship, marking the first time ever that Morgan State failed to reach the postseason championship.
Just like last season, Morgan State jumped out on Hampton taking a 2-0 lead, as it claimed back-to-back 25-19 victories in the opening two sets. The Lady Bears recorded a set-high 15 kills in the second set for a hitting percentage of .229, while holding the Lady Pirates to nine kills and a hitting percentage of .026 in the same set.
After a tough 26-24 loss to Hampton in the third set, Morgan State made sure that history did not repeat itself. The Lady Bears took a 5-0 lead in the fourth and final set and extended their advantage to 17-7 after a kill by Cox.
Morgan State's Christa Rogers finished with a double-double with 37 assists and 13 digs. Dina Beamon tallied a match-high 22 digs. Dominique Bozier and Wyly each finished with a team-high five blocks to help the Lady Bears out block Hampton, 10-9 for the match.
The Lady Pirates were led by Mianna Armstrong, who finished with 11 kills and 13 digs, while Lina Cordoba added nine kills for the Lady Pirates, who ended the regular season with a 9-18, 4-6 MEAC record. Ivana Suput led the Lady Pirates with 21 digs and Lihi Elkayam finished with 38 assists.
