NEWARK, Del. (Sept. 18, 2015)-The Morgan State volleyball team dropped both of its matches on Friday in the Delaware Invitational, hosted by the University of Delaware. The Lady Bears first fell to the host Blue Hens, 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-20), before suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 (25-23, 13-25, 19-25, 26-24, 15-17) loss to Sacred Heart. Both matches were played at the Bob Carpenter Center on the UD campus.

Morgan State (2-11) will close out their 2015 non-conference slate when it returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 19, when it takes on crosstown rival Loyola-Maryland in a non-conference match at Bob Carpenter Center. First serve is scheduled for 10 a.m. The Greyhounds (5-8) dropped a 3-2 decision to Sacred Heart and was swept by host Delaware.

Arianna Hayden and Keana Browne each recorded 16 kills in the match against Sacred Heart, but it wasn't enough, as the Lady Bears suffered their second straight loss and fifth out of their last six contests. Carmen Fernandez recorded a double-double with 45 assists and 13 digs and Minja Rankov led Morgan State with 14 digs. Evely Macedo added 13 digs to go with seven kills and Haley McClure finished with eight kills.

Sacred Heart (5-5) was led by Sarah Krufka, who finished with a match-high 19 kills. Tori Kemper and Burna Bon tallied 12 and 10 kills, respectively, while Ana Gonzalez recorded a match-high 16 digs. Lea Lieb collected 13 digs to go with 31 assists to earn a double-double and Kiki Robinson notched 21 assists.

After battling back to force a fifth set, the Lady Bears jumped out to an 8-3 lead before the teams switched sides and later held an 11-5 lead. The Pioneers pulled within 13-11, but a service error gave the Lady Bears a 14-11 lead. Sacred Heart however would score four straight points to take a 15-14 lead. Morgan State evened the score at 15 all, but the Pioneers scored the next two points to complete the comeback and stun the Lady Bears, 17-15 to win the set and the match.

Morgan State overcome a four-point deficit in the opening set to earn a 25-23 victory. Sacred Heart held an 18-14 advantage, but the Lady Bears would fight back. Morgan State trailed 19-18, before using a mini 4-1 spurt to take a 24-22 lead. The Pioneers would get within 24-23 with a kill by Krufka, but Keana Browne would close the door with a kill to give the Lady Bears the win.

The second set would be all Sacred Heart, as the Pioneers jumped out to a 12-3 lead and never looked back. Sacred Heart's lead grew to as much as 12 points at 23-11, before the Pioneers went on for a 25-13 victory to even the match. 

Set 3 was back and forth until the Pioneers broke an 8-8 tie with a 6-1 run to take a 14-9 lead. The Lady Bears tried to make it interesting with four straight points to pull within 24-19, before Sacred Heart claimed a 25-19 victory.

The two teams played through 18 ties and seven lead changes in Set 4, before the Lady Bears could finally surge ahead for the win and force a fifth set. Morgan State broke a 19-19 tie with four consecutive points to take a 23-19 lead. Sacred Heart scored four of the next five points to tie the score at 24-24. Morgan State would score the next two points for the 26-24 victory to force a fifth set.

Sacred Heart had 15 service aces for the match, but also committed 16 service errors. Morgan State had five aces and eight service errors. Maddie Losure recorded a match-high seven blocks, including two solo to help the Pioneers out block Morgan State, 10.6-6.0 for the match. Browne led the Lady Bears with five blocks and Fernandez added three blocks.

In the Lady Bears earlier match, Autumn Jenkins recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs, while Alexa Swann added 10 kills to lead host Delaware to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-20) non-conference victory over Morgan State.

Ariel Shonk had a match-high 20 digs and Taylor Hollingsworth added 11 for the Blue Hens, who improved to 6-5 with the win. Julia Anderson tallied a match-high 29 assists to go with three blocks, four kills and a hitting percentage of .571. 

The host Blue Hens finished the match with 43 kills on 130 attempts and just eight kills for a .269 hitting percentage. Morgan State also had 130 attempts, recording 36 kills, but had 20 errors for a .123 percentage.

The Lady Bears' twice notched 14 kills in Set 1 and Set 3, including a set-high .184 hitting percentage in Set 3. Delaware recorded a set-high 18 kills in Set 3 for a .302 hitting percentage.

Morgan State was led by Keana Browne's nine kills and team-high four blocks. Evely Macedo added seven kills and a team-high 15 digs, while Arianna Hayden finished with seven kills and 14 digs. Carmen Fernandez recorded a double-double with 27 assists and 12 digs. Minja Rankov, who made the start at libero, finished with 12 digs and a match-high three service aces. Monette Daniels had a good outing for the Lady Bears, tying a season-high six kills and a season-best .455 hitting percentage. Daniels also added an assist and a season-high two digs.

The Blue Hens held a 7.0-4.0 blocking advantage over the Lady Bears. Swann tallied a match-high five blocks.