Game Notes

BALTIMORE, Md. (August 25, 2015)-The Morgan State volleyball team kicks off its 2015 campaign on the road this weekend (Aug. 28-29) when the squad travels to College Park, Md. to compete in the Maryland Invite, hosted by the University of Maryland.
 
The Lady Bears will begin the two-day tournament on Friday, Aug. 28 with a meeting against the host Terrapins at 12:30 p.m. The two programs haven't met since the 2009 Battle of Baltimore, a 3-0 sweep by the Terrapins in Towson, Md. on Sept. 5. Maryland leads the all-time series, 6-0. Morgan State will close out the opening day with a 3 p.m. non-conference match against Kent State. The Golden Flashes lead the all-time series, 2-0.
 
On Saturday, the Lady Bears will then face Duquesne at 10 a.m., before closing out the tournament with a 5:30 p.m. contest against Hofstra. Duquesne leads the series, 3-0, while Morgan State and Hofstra will met for just the second time in program history, with the Pride holding a 1-0 lead.
 
All matches will be played at the XFINITY Pavilion inside the XFINITY Center on the Maryland campus. Fans can follow the matches by way of live stats by clicking here.
 
Last season the Lady Bears finished 13-13, 6-6 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference North Division, which ranked fourth. Morgan State returns 10 letterwinners, including six seniors, five of which were starters from a year ago.
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears will travel to Illinois next weekend for a trip to Chicago's 'Windy City' to compete in the UIC Invitational (Sept. 4-5), hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago. Morgan State will first face the host Flames on Friday, Sept. 4, before closing out the tournament with matches against Chicago State and Central Connecticut State.
  
OPENING SERVE: Morgan State is 8-14 in season openers since the 1993 season, after dropping last year's opener to East Tennessee State (8/29) at the Charlotte Invitational. The Lady Bears, who have lost three consecutive season openers, last won an opening day match in 2011 when they defeated Saint Peter's 3-0 at the La Salle Invitational (8/26/11).
 
MORGAN PICKED FOURTH IN MEAC NORTH: Morgan State was picked to finish fourth in the north division of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) preseason poll, as voted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Last year, the Lady Bears were picked to finish fourth and went 13-13 overall, 6-6 in the MEAC good for a fourth-place finish.
 
2015 CAPTAINS NAMED: Seniors Samantha Prescott and Shayna Hunt-Colon were named team captain and co-captain, respectively, for the 2015 season, as voted by their teammates. Prescott, a four-year starter who has played nearly every position on the court, recorded 2.24 digs and 1.93 kills per set last season. A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Prescott filled in at setter due to an injury and notched a career-high 41 assists, while recording a career-high .750 hitting percentage in a win at Delaware State. Hunt-Colon, a native of Lorain, Ohio had her best season as a Lady Bear a year ago, averaging 1.10 digs per set as a reserve. She notched  a career-high 12 digs and added an assist on the road at Delaware State and set a career-high .667 hitting percentage during the opening weekend against host Charlotte during the Charlotte Invitational. 
 
SOMEONE NEW: When Morgan State heads to Chicago for the UIC Invitational (Sept. 4-5), its matches against host University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago State will mark the first time the Lady Bears have played the two programs.
 
UNBEATEN STREAKS ON THE LINE: The Lady Bears enter the season with a perfect record against Central Connecticut State (2-0) and Sacred Heart (4-0) which are the only teams on this season's schedule Morgan State has yet to drop a match against. The Lady Bears square off against Providence during the 10th Annual Friar Classic (Sept. 12-13), hosted by Providence. The two teams met last season also in the Friar Classic with Morgan State earning a 3-1 victory.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: The 2015 Lady Bears' roster features four players: seniors Samantha Prescott, Carmen Fernandez and Evely Macedo and junior Minja Rankov, who hail from outside the United States. It is the most international players ever on a Morgan State volleyball roster at one time in Ramona Riley-Bozier's 28 years as head coach. Prescott is a four-year starter from Trinidad & Tobago and Macedo, who was a junior transfer last season, is from Fortaleza, Brazil. Despite Puerto Rico being a US territory, Fernandez, who transferred as a junior last season and is a native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, is just the second volleyball player from Puerto Rico to play for Riley-Bozier at Morgan State. Rankov is a junior out of Nova Sad, Serbia.
 
FOUR NAMED TO MEAC ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: Morgan State had four players (Zuri Smith, Tamara Leslie, Haley McClure and Shayna Hunt-Colon) named to the MEAC Volleyball All-Academic Team during the 2013-14 school year. Two of the four recognized (Hunt-Colon and McClure) return for the 2014 season.
 
WELCOME TO THE CAVE: Morgan State will welcome the addition of six newcomers to the 2015 squad, four of which are freshman and two sophomores. Those newcomers are freshmen Milan Amos (Owings, Md.), Monette Daniels (Southfield, Mich.), Monet Fontaine (Upper Marlboro, Md.), Minne Masoe (Long Beach, Calif.) and sophomores Jamilah Hewitt (Brentwood, N.Y.) and Shawnikia Smith (Aliquippa, Pa.).
 
SAYING GOODBYE: Morgan State will say goodbye to six seniors, Arianna Hayden, Dinah Jones, Shayna Hunt-Colon, Samantha Prescott, Carmen Fernandez and Evely Macedo prior to its home finale 'Senior Day' match against rival Coppin State (11/8).