BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 8, 2014)-Friday night's regular season finale wasn't the way the Lady Bears wanted to send their two senior captains Tamara Leslie and Zuri Smith out in their final collegiate home contest at Hill Field House against rival Howard on Senior Night.
 
Behind Khaila Donaldson's double-double of a match-high 12 kills and a match-high 11 digs, and Whitney Fields and Assata Conway adding 10 and nine kills, respectively, visiting Howard defeated Morgan State, 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-20) in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Northern Division match.
 
Stephanie Shultis finished with 33 assists, four kills and five digs, for the Lady Bison (17-9, 10-1 MEAC), who swept the season series against Morgan State, extended their winning streak to season-high eight straight to remain atop of the northern division standings. The win also marked the second consecutive season that Howard has spoiled Morgan State's Senior Night.  
 
Morgan State 13-12, 6-6 MEAC) had its two-match winning streak come to an end and concluded the regular season going 4-2 at home. The loss also ended any chance of the Lady Bears moving up in the standings, as they will enter the upcoming MEAC Championship (Nov. 21-23) as the fourth-seed in the northern division.  
 
Morgan State senior captain, Zuri Smith tallied a team-high 11 kills and finished with a hitting percentage of .474, while adding a dig and two blocks in her final home match, to tie former teammate Janelle Wilson (2010-13) for eighth-place all-time with 227 blocks.
 
Fellow senior co-captain Tamara Leslie finished her final home contest with an assist and had a team-high 10 digs, her eighth double-digit digs performance this season.
 
Arianna Hayden notched 10 kills and had six digs, while Evely Macedo totaled eight kills for the Lady Bears. Carmen Fernandez finished with a match-high 35 assists and added 10 digs to record her seventh double-double of the season.   
 
The Lady Bison, who finished the match with 44 kills and a hitting percentage of .271, came out on fire in the opening set. Howard recorded 20 kills with just two errors on 38 attempts for a hitting percentage of .474 to win the opening set by a score of 25-19.
 
Howard broke open a 15-14 advantage in Set 2, by using a 5-0 run to increase its cushion to six points at 20-14. The Lady Bison would take a 24-17 lead, following a kill by Allyson Lods. Morgan State would counter with four straight points, three of which came on the serve of Shayna Hunt-Colon, who checked into the contest to bring the Lady Bears within, 24-21. However an attack error by Hayden would end the run and give the guests a 25-21 win.
 
Set 3 was another back-and-forth affair as an attack error on the Lady Bison, pulled Morgan State within a point at 19-18. But once again, the Lady Bears could not take control, as Howard used a 3-1 run to create some breathing room and take a 22-19 lead. A kill by Smith cut the Howard lead to 22-20, but that was a close as Morgan State would get. The Lady Bison would score the final three points, capped off by a service ace by Jaleeza Stoudemire for the 25-20 win.
Morgan State finished the match with a .198 hitting percentage, including a high of .282 in the first set with 15 kills on 39 attempts and four errors. The Lady Bears would record a total of 39 kills with 18 errors on 106 attempts for the match.
 
The Lady Bears struggled with their serving, as they had six serving errors and no aces. Howard would have four service aces and committed five service errors.
 
Howard held a 6.0-5.0 advantage over Morgan State in blocks for the match. Conway led the Lady Bison with a match-high three blocks, while Morgan Sate was led by Dinah Jones, who also had a match-high three blocks. Samantha Prescott, Macedo and Smith all had two blocks for the Lady Bears.