BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 31, 2014)-Morgan State's Zuri Smith tallied a match-high 15 kills on 27 attempts for a match-high .481 hitting percentage and Tamara Leslie recorded a match-high 14 digs to lead host Morgan State past the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-21) in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Northern Division match on Friday evening at Hill Field House.
The contest, which was the Lady Bears' fifth annual Dig Pink match to help raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research, was also the fifth Dig Pink match this season the Lady Bears played in. Morgan State is now 2-3 on the season in those contests.
Morgan State (12-11, 5-5 MEAC) swept the season series with the win and has won the past four contests against the Lady Hawks. The Lady Bears improved to 36-18 all-time against UMES, but more importantly increased their lead to two matches over UMES in the league standings for the fourth and final spot in next month's MEAC championship tournament.
Arianna Hayden fell shy of a double-double, finishing with 13 kills and nine digs, while Evely Macedo did notch a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs. Samnatha Prescott added 10 digs and seven kills and Carmen Fernandez totaled 41 assists for the Lady Bears.
While the Halloween match wasn't the prettiest, the Lady Bears did manage to pull out the victory, thus ending a season-long four-match losing skid, which ironically began following Morgan State's 3-1 win over UMES for the Lady Hawks' Dig Pink match on Oct. 10.
After dropping the opening set to the Lady Hawks, Morgan State regrouped to win the next three sets to earn the victory. Leading 2-1 after three sets, the Lady Bears and UMES traded blows in what would be the fourth and final set. Morgan State used a 5-0 run to take a 5-1 lead and the guests countered with a 4-0 run to even the score at 5-5.
Every time it seemed as if Morgan State would pull away, the Lady Hawks would bounce right back and even the score. The teams would have six more ties throughout the set, the last coming at 20-20, following a kill by Hayden.
The Lady Hawks would pull within 22-21, but would give the point right back to Morgan State on a service error. A net call on Sonia Rosales of UMES on the ensuing point, gave the Lady Bears a 24-21 advantage. UMES head coach Tobe Rens, would argue the call and receive his second yellow card of the match from the top referee, who followed it up with a red card, which awarded Morgan State a point, giving the Lady Bears a 25-21 win in Set 4 and the match victory.
UMES was led by Ksenia Sukhareva's team-high 12 kills, while Kristin Fink added a double-double with 10 kills and 14 assists. Precious Manu and Ashley Smith finished with 14 and 13 digs, respectively, while Rosales notched a double-double with 19 assists and 10 digs.
The Lady Hawks finished the match with 46 kills and a .205 hitting percentage, including a high of .235 in Set 2. UMES had three service aces with Sukhareva collecting two aces, but had 11 service errors. The guests held a 7.0-4.0 advantage in blocks. Alana Polk tallied a match-high four blocks for the Lady Hawks, while Haley Robinson and Lauren Berry had three blocks apiece.
Morgan State finished with 49 kills and had a hitting percentage of .181. Macedo had a team-high three of the Lady Bears' eight service aces. However, Morgan State committed 13 errors.
The Lady Bears return to action on Sunday, Nov. 2, when they play host to Delaware State at 3 p.m. at Hill Field House. The Hornets (1-22, 1-7 MEAC) lost to Coppin State on Friday by a score of 3-1.
