BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 19, 2016)-The Morgan State volleyball team will begin the second half of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) slate this Thursday, Oct. 20, when it travels to Hampton, Va. to take on the Lady Pirates of Hampton. First serve is at 6 p.m. at Holland Hall.
 
This will be the 48^th meeting between the two teams with Morgan State holding a commanding 40-7 all-time series lead over Hampton. The Lady Bears won the first meeting of the season, defeating the Lady Pirates 3-1 (13-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-20) on Sept. 24 in Baltimore, Md.
 
Morgan State (4-17, 4-2 MEAC) concluded the first half of its MEAC schedule by winning its final two matches to improve to 4-2 in the northern division. The Lady Bears however enter the Hampton contest coming off a 3-0 loss to MEAC Southern Division foe, Bethune-Cookman on Sunday afternoon at Hill Field House. The loss was the final non-conference contest for the Lady Bears, who would finish the season winless (0-15) in non-conference play.
 
Junior Keana Browne wrapped up a successful weekend, by finishing with a match-high 13 kills, while hitting for a team-high .308 hitting percentage against B-CU. Senior captain Haley McClure added 10 kills and freshman Roi Wallace accounted for 28 assists. Fellow freshman Jasmin Hubbard, despite a slow start, collected a season-best 22 digs for the Lady Bears, who finished just 1-2 during its three-game homestand.
 
Morgan State finished the contest with a hitting percentage of .082 and totaled 31 kills. Morgan State also held a 3.0-1.0 blocking advantage over B-CU with Browne leading the way with three blocks and Natashia Barker adding two.
 
Barker has paced the Lady Bears with 175 kills and ranks second with 138 digs. Browne is adding 156 kills and leads Morgan State with 57 blocks. Hubbard has a team-high 190 digs, while McClure leads the squad with 17 service aces. Wallace has tallied 486 assists on the season.
 
Hampton (3-15, 2-5 MEAC) enters the contest currently on a four-match losing skid, after beginning the MEAC slate with a 2-1 mark. The Lady Pirates were swept on the road by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday in Princess Anne, Md. Reeana Richardson had a team-high seven kills and Brianna Lilly finished with a team-leading 19 assists for the Lady Pirates. Richardson and Lilly each finished with a team-high five digs.
 
The Lady Pirates finished with a hitting percentage of .029, while totaling 21 kills on 70 attempts with 19 errors. Summer Humes recorded the lone service ace for Hampton, which had six service errors on the day.
 
Richardson leads Hampton with 223 kills, 15 service aces and second in digs with 112. Humes leads the squad with 130 digs and Lilly has notched a team-best 524 assists. Kyndall Nicholas has a team-leading 38 blocks, while Lena Washington has 33 blocks on the season.