Morgan State University Athletics

Box Score LORETTO, Pa. (Sept. 20, 2014)-The Morgan State volleyball team entered this weekend's Red Flash Classic with the goal of closing out its non-conference schedule by winning back-to-back tournaments.
 
After dropping their opening match on Friday to host Saint Francis-Pa., it appeared that it would be tough for the Lady Bears to accomplish that feat. However, the Lady Bears did just that, as they followed up this morning's sweep of Loyola Maryland with a hard fought five-set win over George Mason in the final match of the tournament for both teams.
 
The Lady Bears would go on to defeat the Patriots 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-13) on Saturday evening at Degol Arena to hand George Mason its lone loss of the tournament. With the victory, the Lady Bears claimed the Red Flash Classic title and closed out their non-conference slate by winning two consecutive tournaments for the first time since 2002, when they captured both the Bucknell Classic and Morgan State Invitational titles.
 
The Lady Bears (7-6) would have five players reach double figures in kills, while three players record double-doubles in the match. Dinah Jones led the way with a team-high and career-tying 16 kills. Evely Macedo tallied a season-high 14 kills and had eight digs, while Arianna Hayden finished with 14 kills and 14 digs to record her second double-double of the season. Carmen Fernandez notched a career-best 59 assists and added 14 digs to earn her fifth double-double of the season and Samantha Prescott collected a match-high 16 digs and had 11 kills for her first double-double of the season. Zuri Smith finished with 10 kills, as the Lady Bears evened up the all-time series against George Mason, 1-1.
 
George Mason (4-9) was led by Morghan Martin, who finished with a match-high 20 kills and a match-high 16 digs. Jessie Greenslade totaled 18 kills and Tiffany Clarke added 15. Kelly Schaller nearly recorded a double-double, finishing with 30 assists and nine digs, while Caitlyn Hipsher finished with 21 assists and 10 digs. Stephi Matsushima added 14 digs.
 
Morgan State jumped out to a 1-0 lead, after taking the opening set, 25-21. The Patriots bounced back to win the next two sets to take a 2-1 lead. The Lady Bears pulled out a two-point victory (25-23) in Set 4 to force a fifth and decisive set.
 
The Lady Bears held an 11-9 lead in Set 5, but George Mason used a 4-1 run, capped off by a ball handling error on Morgan State to take a 13-12 lead. Following a Morgan State time out, the Lady Bears got back-to-back kills by Hayden and Macedo to reclaim the lead at 14-13. Hayden would then serve up an ace which landed near Matsushima of George Mason for the final point to give the Lady Bears the 15-13 victory.  
 
The Lady Bears finished the match recording 69 kills on 171 attempts with 27 errors for a .246 hitting percentage. Morgan State also had 61 digs and five service aces. However, the squad committed seven service aces.
 
George Mason totaled 63 kills on 153 attempts and had 23 errors for a .261 hitting percentage. The Patriots collected 64 digs and finished with four service aces and two service errors.
 
As a team, the Patriots held a 13.5-9.0 advantage in blocks. Lolade Owokoniran of George Mason had a match-high seven blocks, while Clarke and Sydney Fanoga added six and five blocks, respectively.
 
Morgan State was led by Jones, who capped off her record-tying day with a career-high six blocks. Hayden and Smith each had three blocks for the Lady Bears.
 
Morgan State will now turn its focus to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) North Division play, beginning with the home and MEAC opener against crosstown rival Coppin State on Friday, Sept. 26. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Hill Field House.