Dinah Jones recorded a career- and match-high 16 kills and added two blocks in the loss to Saint Francis-Pa.
Box Score LORETTO, Pa. (Sept. 19, 2014)-The Morgan State volleyball team had its season-long three-match winning streak come to an end on Friday evening at Degol Arena, as the Lady Bears dropped a 3-1 (19-25, 31-29, 26-28, 12-25) decision to host Saint Francis-Pa., in the opener of the Red Flash Classic.
Breanna Opera recorded a double-double with a team-high 14 kills and added 11 digs to lead four Red Flash players with double-doubles performances. Hannah Kutny finished with 13 kills and had 12 digs, while Kayla Jeckell contributed 10 kills and 10 digs. Alanna Blenkarn tallied 44 assists and 14 digs, while Jenna Veres notched a team-high 15 digs for the Red Flash, who improved to 3-5 all-time against Morgan State.
For Morgan State (5-6), coming off winning last week's Friar Classic in Providence, R.I., after going a perfect 3-0 over the weekend, this was not the start the Lady Bears wanted to have. Looking to close out their final regular season tournament of the season in style, the Lady Bears would commit a season-high 32 attack errors and had eight service errors.
Although the errors, especially unforced errors did in the Lady Bears, there would be several bright spots for Morgan State. Junior middle hitter Dinah Jones, who last week set a career-high 10 kills in the finale against Fairleigh Dickinson, tallied a new career-high 16 kills against the Red Flash to lead all players. Fellow middle hitter, senior Zuri Smith also had a productive outing, adding 11 kills, while junior Evely Macedo notched a career-best and match-high 23 digs. Samantha Prescott and Tamara Leslie totaled 13 and 12 digs, respectively, while Carmen Fernandez fell shy of a double-double with a career-high 48 assists and nine digs.
Saint Francis-Pa. (4-8) would finish the match with 52 kills on 153 attempts, 24 errors and a hitting percentage of .183. The lady Bears would have 50 kills, 32 errors on 175 attempts and had a .103 hitting percentage.
The host Red Flash held a 12.0-3.0 advantage over Morgan State in team blocks, an area that has plagued the Lady Bears this season. Sophie Murdock finished with a match-high six blocks, while Blenkarn and Opera each added four blocks for the Red Flash. Jones led Morgan State with two blocks.
The Lady Bears return to action on Saturday, Sept. 20, when they take on Baltimore foe, Loyola Maryland at 11 a.m., before closing out the tournament with a 5 p.m. match against George Mason.
