BALTIMORE, Md. – The trio of seniors Evely Macedo and Dinah Jones and sophomore Keana Browne combined for 23 kills and a .439 hitting percentage to lead the Morgan State volleyball team to a 25-20, 25-20, 30-28 sweep of Hampton in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Northern Division contest Friday night at Hill Field House on Dig Pink Night.
The Lady Bears (8-13, 5-2 MEAC) have now won six of their last eight overall and two-straight at home. The team also pulled into a tie for second place in the MEAC Northern Division following Howard's 25-18, 25-14, 21-25, 25-18 victory over Maryland Eastern Shore Friday night.
Browne led the way with nine kills and four blocks, one shy of her career-high. She also posted a .636 hitting percentage, raising her team-leading total to .315 this season. Macedo and Jones combined for 14 kills, 11 digs and three blocks.
As a team, Morgan State posted a .299 hitting percentage, it's second-best this season behind the .403 set versus Delaware State on October 11. The Lady Bears also totaled 8.0 blocks, two short of their season-high.
With the first set tied at 7-7, Morgan State used a 4-0 run to take a four-point lead, one it would not relinquish. Hampton totaled 14 kills compared to just nine for the Lady Bears, but was limited by nine attack and three service errors.
Morgan State led by as many as four in the second set before the Lady Pirates rallied to tie the set at 17-17. However, led by two kills from Browne and four Hampton attack errors, the Lady Bears used a 7-2 run before taking a two-set lead on Browne's fourth kill of the set.
Like the previous two, the third set saw seven ties and four lead changes, all but one of which came over the set's final 13 points. Morgan State led by as many as seven at 11-4 and led by no less than three until a 5-0 run by the Pirates tied the set at 23-23.
The Lady Bears held match point four times over the final 12 points while fighting off two for Hampton. Following the seventh tie of the set at 28-28, Morgan State picked up the win on a kill by senior Arianna Hayden and an attack error by the Lady Pirates.
Hayden, Jones and Browne combined for 10 of the Lady Bears' 15 kills in the set while the team benefited from seven Hampton service errors.
The 30-28 decision was Morgan State's highest scoring set since the Lady Bears' 31-29 second-set victory at Saint Francis on Sept. 19, 2014.
Hayden finished the match with four kills and 10 digs. Junior Minja Rankov also had 10 digs while junior Haley McClure added six kills. Senior Carmen Fernandez totaled 30 assists, her second-highest total in a three-set match this year.
Reeana Richardson led the Pirates (1-19, 1-6 MEAC) with 16 kills and eight digs. Allysa Medina and Tatyana Thomas each had eight kills.
In two matches against Hampton this season, Morgan State has totaled 14 service aces.
The Lady Bears return to action on Sunday when they host Norfolk State in a MEAC contest at Hill Field House beginning at 3 p.m.
