BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 18, 2014)-It's that time of year again on the Morgan State campus where the faculty and staff, student body, alumni, family and friends all gather together to celebrate homecoming. However missing from this year's events, will be the annual alumni volleyball match, followed by the homecoming volleyball match, which for the past few years has concluded the week-long festivities on Sunday.

For the first time in nine years, the Lady Bears will not have a homecoming match this season, due to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) scheduling. Instead Morgan State will make the short trip to crosstown rival Coppin State on Sunday, Oct. 19 for a 3 p.m. road contest at the Physical Education Complex.

"When I first found out that there would not be a homecoming match this year I was very disappointed," said Morgan State senior Zuri Smith. "I was very disappointed because throughout my time here at Morgan, the volleyball alumni and current players all come together after our win and talk about old times. Not to mention homecoming games are a great time for alumni to see the progress of their former team." 

"It's just too much with playing [alumni match] then getting ready to play at Coppin State," said head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier, on why this year's alumni match was cancelled. "We need to be focused on coaching, playing and winning."

The Lady Bears (11-8, 4-2 MEAC) are coming off a 3-0 loss at Howard this past Thursday, which dropped them to third-place in the league standings to end the first half of the conference slate.

Dinah Jones led the Lady Bears with eight kills, while Smith added six kills. Arianna Hayden finished with 14 digs and had two solo blocks. Carmen Fernandez tallied 20 assists, nine digs and had four kills on six attempts for a hitting percentage of .667 for the match. Fernandez also recorded Morgan State's lone service ace in the loss to Howard.

Hayden has led the Lady Bears with 2.77 kills, while Dinah Jones is adding 2.27 kills. Hayden also holds the team lead in blocks with 43 and Jones has 40 on the season. Tamara Leslie is averaging 2.27 digs per set and Fernandez has collected 646 assists.  

Coppin State (9-10, 3-3 MEAC) had its two-match winning streak snapped, following a 3-1 loss in its last contest against Howard (10/12).

Cindy Okpegbue led the way with a match-high 18 kills and Kandace Thomas finished with 12. Gabrielle Otero totaled a match-high 21 digs and Nicole Malave-Adams recorded 12 digs. Chelsee Sauni notched a match-high 47 assists. 

The Eagles have been led by Okpegbue, who is recording 4.01 kills per set, while Ariel Richard is contributing 3.09 kills per set. Bailee Jackson is averaging 2.57 digs per set, and Malave-Adams is adding 1.98 digs. Kendra Ireigbe has a team-leading 64 blocks, while Chelsee Sauni has 788 assists on the season.