Morgan State University Athletics

Entering Wednesday's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) North Division contest against Hampton the Morgan State volleyball team had gone 11 months and 12 days since its last victory at Hill Field House. That last home win came on Nov. 7, 2010 and just so happened to be a 3-0 sweep of visiting Hampton.

Behind a match-high 11 kills and nine digs from senior Erin Cox and a 10-kill, team-high 12 dig performance by junior Kierra Outlin, Morgan State swept visiting Hampton once again, defeating the Lady Pirates 3-0 (24-19, 25-20, 25-20) in front of an energetic and electrifying home crowd. The win ended the Lady Bears' three-match losing skid and extended their all-time series lead over Hampton to 35-2.

“I'm just happy to be hitting again because that's what I like to do,” said Cox, who was playing in her second consecutive match as outside hitter after spending the previous month as the libero. “I don't mind being the libero and defending all the time, but my position is to hit and that's what I like to do so I'm glad to be back out there.”

“I'm kind of happy that Erin [Cox] is back where she is and it's nice to have the offense that she can bring, but she brings other things,” said Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier. “She puts up a solid block and can handle a bad pass when she's playing smart. And she already knows that if she's not playing well offensively, then she's going back into the libero uniform.”

Aside from picking up a much needed victory, a conference win and a win at home – something that has been rare and hard to come by over the years – perhaps the most thrilling part was how the Lady Bears did it. As a team they hit for a .337 with everyone hitting a positive percentage. Cox finished with a .467 percentage and Outlin hit .400 to lead the way.

“I feel like this is almost one of the first team's where we've had that many hitters and every single person being in the positive and where our hitters were at .230 and higher. I don't know the last time we've ever done something like that,” said Bozier. “This would probably have to be the first in over seven years.”

Morgan State (4-17, 2-3 MEAC) was dominate from start to finish, diving for balls on the defensive end and taking advantage of opportunities on the offensive end. Unlike Sunday's loss at Howard and an earlier loss at Delaware State, the Lady Bears did not let up after claiming an opening set victory. Morgan State held Hampton to five kills in the first set and eight in the second. With an electric home crowd behind them, the Lady Bears probably had their best overall home court showing since a 3-2 upset victory over UMBC on (9/23/06).

Hampton (9-10, 4-2 MEAC), who entered the match in second in the north division standings with its lone league loss coming to UMES, was led by Krista Kraskura's nine kills. Petra Parros added seven and had a match-high .667 hitting percentage. Lihi Elkayam had 25 assists, while Sheileen Pagan finished with 12 digs.

As a team the Lady Pirates finished with 27 kills and 15 errors for a .129 hitting percentage. Hampton also had three service aces and eight errors. Morgan State totaled 45 kills and 11 errors for a .337 hitting percentage. The Lady Bears had five aces, three coming from Kylin Ellison, but they committed 13 service aces.

“This was one to get us over the hump,” said Bozier on her team's performance. “This is the first time since the Monica Scott and Ja Nina Lee era (mid 90s) that we've ever played this well at home. I was really excited to know that we can play at home and we need that type of crowd participation...I'm so happy for them.”   

Added Cox, “this most definitely this is a boost for a turn around. It better be. We have to win the rest of these matches and we can't do anything but go forward.”

Morgan State will host cross-town rival Coppin State on Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. It will mark the third annual MSU “DIG PINK” match for breast cancer awareness.