Morgan State University Athletics

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (August 29, 2014)-The Morgan State women's volleyball team kicked off the 2014 season with a 3-0 (14-25, 20-25, 20-25) non-conference loss to East Tennessee State (ETSU) in the season opener for both teams and the opener of the Charlotte Invitational on Friday morning at Halton Arena. It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
 
Morgan State junior transfer Evely Macedo tallied a match- and team-high 11 kills and added eight digs, an assist and a block in her first match as a Lady Bear. Fellow junior Arianna Hayden contributed six kills and six digs, while Minja Rankov finished with a team-high 13 digs for the Lady Bears. Junior transfer Carmen Fernandez registered 24 assists and seven digs.
 
The Buccaneers (1-0) were led offensively by Bethany Gesell and Ivey Rice, who each notched eight kills apiece. Katie Muey and Rylee Milhorn led the defense with 15 and 12 digs, respectively. Meredith Hardy finished with a match-high seven blocks, including two solo and Rice added four blocks. Jamie Rutledge finished with a team-high 15 assists and Kristen Favre added 13.
 
ETSU finished the match with a hitting percentage of .244 and had a high of .276 in the second set. The Buccaneers recorded 33 kills and had attack 11 errors.
 
The Lady Bears (0-1) were held to a .065 hitting percentage, finishing with 30 kills, but committed 23 attack errors. Morgan State also seemed to struggle with its serve, as the squad had 13 service errors and just two service aces on the morning.
 
Morgan State returns to the court later this afternoon when it battles host Charlotte at 2:30 p.m. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams with the 49ers holding a 3-0 all-time series lead.