MSU Notes
ESPN3 Link
Live Stats

BALTIMORE, Md. (Sept. 2, 2015)-The Morgan State volleyball team returns to action this weekend on the road, as they travel to Chicago, Ill. to compete in the UIC Invitational (Sept. 4-5), hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Lady Bears begin the tournament on Friday, Sept. 4 with a non-conference match against the host Flames of UIC at 7 p.m. The contest with the Flames will air live on ESPN3 and will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams. On Saturday, Morgan State opens up with another first-time non-conference match-up against Chicago State at 10 a.m., before closing out the tournament against Central Connecticut State at 1 p.m. All matches are Central Standard Time and will be played at Flames Athletic Center. The Lady Bears enter the weekend going winless in four matches at the Maryland Invite (Aug. 28-29). Keana Browne leads the team in kills with 2.25 per set, while Chicago native Arianna Hayden is averaging 1.92 kills per set. Samantha Prescott leads the Bears with 3.67 digs per set and was named to the Maryland Invite All-Tournament team. Minne Masoe leads Morgan State with 4.67 assists per set, while Carmen Fernandez is averaging 4.45 assists per set.
 
MSU AGAINST THE FIELD: This will be the first meeting between Morgan State and the host UIC Flames, as well as Morgan State's first meeting between the Chicago State Cougars. The Lady Bears finale against Central Connecticut State will mark the third meeting between the two teams, with the Lady Bears holding a 2-0 all-time series lead.
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears return home for their home opener on Tuesday, Sept. 8, when they welcome the Hoyas of Georgetown to Hill Field House for a non-conference match. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
OPENING SERVE: Morgan State is 8-15 in season openers since the 1993 season, after dropping this year's opener at Maryland (8/28) in the Maryland Invite. 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).
 
PRESCOTT NAMED TO ALL-MARYLAND INVITE TEAM: MSU senior captain Samantha Prescott was named to the Maryland Invite All-Tournament Team on Aug. 29. Prescott totaled 44 digs and had a weekend-best 15 digs against Duquesne (8/29) and added seven assists. A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Prescott totaled four assists and had nine digs in the season opener against host Maryland. She then added 12 digs in the next match against Kent State.
 
LADY BEARS TO MAKE ESPN3 DEBUT: The Morgan State Lady Bears' volleyball program will make their first-ever television appearance on one of the ESPN family networks, when they visit the University of Illinois at Chicago Flames on Friday, Sept. 4 in the UIC Invitational. The match will air on ESPN3 at 8 p.m. EST at Flames Athletic Center.
 
I'M COMING HOME: Senior Arianna Hayden will return home this weekend when MSU takes part in the UIC Invitational. A 5-foot-9 native of Chicago, Hayden is a 2012 graduate of De LaSalle Institute, where she led the Meteors to back-to-back regional titles as a junior and senior. Last season she led the Lady Bears with a season-best 260 kills and earned All-MEAC third-team honors. Hayden is currently second on the team in kills (23) and tied for second in digs (20), service aces (2) and blocks (4).
 
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. A native of Trinidad & Tobago, 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. 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. 
 
CHAFEH NAMED ASSISTANT COACH: There will be a familiar face on the bench of the Lady Bears this season with the return of former Lady Bear setter, Natalie Chafeh, who was named assistant coach. Chafeh, who returned to the Lady Bears in early August prior to the start of training camp, played at Morgan State from 2010-13. She concluded her career ranked third all-time at Morgan State in assists with 2,374 and ranks 13th all-time with 162 blocks. Chafeh tallied a season-best 848 assists during her senior season, which ranks 11th on the charts.
 
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 2015 season with a perfect record against Central Connecticut State (2-0), 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 Central Connecticut State during the UIC Invitational on Sept. 5 and face Sacred Heart on Sept. 18 in the Delaware Invitational.
 
TOURNAMENT EXPOSURE: Morgan State will face Hampton and Hofstra, as the only teams on the Lady Bears' schedule this season to reach the 2014 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.
 
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 2015 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).
 
2015 MEAC CHAMPIONSHIP: The 2015 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference volleyball championship is scheduled for November 20-22 at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center on the campus of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Md.