Erin Cox tallied a match-high 17 kills and added 11 digs in the win over Saint Francis-Pa.
Saint Francis-Pa. 2, Morgan State 3
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Aug. 27, 2010)-The Lady Bears opened up their 2010 season on the road on Friday with a non-conference match against Saint Francis-Pa. as part of the Courtyard by Marriott Invitational at the A.J. Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne.
Morgan State, which hasn't opened the season at home for the last six seasons, bounced back from an 0-2 deficit and earned a 3-2 victory (19-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18, 15-11) over the Red Flash. The victory improved Morgan State to 5-2 all-time against Saint Francis-Pa. and ended a 10-match losing skid in season openers.
Erin Cox led the Lady Bears (1-0) with a match-high 17 kills and added 11 digs to record a double-double, while Dominique Bozier finished with 11 kills and a match-high four blocks. Jourdan Lemons, who took over the setter duties in the third set, finished with a career-high 31 assists and #Ngebui (Natalie) Chafeh added 10. Dina Beamon led Morgan State with a match-high 28 digs and Cheryl Savoy# finished with 11.
Saint Francis-Pa. (0-1) was led by Elizabeth Williams' 12 kills and Lauren Wingard, who added 10. Kierstin Kiser had a match-high 41 assists, 11 digs and five kills for the Red Flash. Christine Breisch tallied a team-high 14 digs and Rachel Capizzi totaled 13.
After losing the first set by the score of 25-19 and falling behind early second set, the Lady Bears pulled within 16-13. But the Red Flash used a 4-1 run to increase their advantage to 20-14, forcing Morgan State to use a timeout. The Lady Bears would get no closer and Saint Francis would close out the set with a 5-4 spurt to a take a 25-18 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Bears' offense began to come around in the third set Morgan State made a switch at setter with Jourdan Lemons coming in to start the third set and the Lady Bears offense seemed to come to life. The Lady Bears opened up the set with an early 6-3 lead and increased it to 10-5. The Red Flash however countered with a 4-0 spurt to pull within 10-9.
The Lady Bears then bounced back with a 5-1 run, including four straight points to take a 15-10 advantage and force Saint Francis-Pa. into a timeout. The Red Flash slowly began to creep back into the match and with a 6-2 run, got within 17-16, following an ace by Lindsay Malloy.
But Morgan State would hold on, closing out Set 3 with an 8-3 spurt, including the last four straight points, finishing off the set with an assisted block by Lemons and Bozier for the 25-19 win.
Morgan State built on its victory, jumping out to a quick 8-4 lead in the fourth-set, which continued to grow turned into a 13-5 advantage, following back-to-back kills from Kierra Riley. The Lady Bears' cushion increased to their largest lead of the set at 11 points twice (19-8 and 21-10), before the Red Flash pulled within 23-17. Morgan State would put the set away with a kill by Lemons.
Morgan State held an 8-5 lead in the fifth and final set, before the teams switched sides. Saint Francis-Pa. would not go away, using a 6-3 run to pull even at 11 all. The Lady Bears regrouped, following a timeout and ended the match scoring the last four points of the match to complete the come-from-behind victory.
Morgan State will conclude Day 1 of the Courtyard by Marriott Invitational with a 7 p.m. non-conference match tonight against host Duquesne.
BEAR CLAWS
Of the Lady Bears' 22 losses last season, 20 of them came by way of a sweep after Morgan had lost the first two sets…Morgan State improved to 5-2 all-time against Saint Francis-Pa…Morgan's victory was its first season opening win since the 1997 season…Dominique Bozier tallied four blocks, giving her 162 for her career, three shy from passing O'Tasha Williams (164 blocks) for ninth all-time at Morgan State…Jourdan Lemons who took over the setter duties in the third-set, tallied a career-high 31 assists…Head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier recorded her 368 victory and is now just seven wins shy of victory 375.
