BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 2, 2016)-The Morgan State volleyball team will travel to Washington, D.C. this Friday, Nov. 4, to take on defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion and division champion, Howard in a MEAC Northern Division match. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at Burr Gymnasium.
This will be the 69th meeting between the two programs with Morgan State holding a 36-32 all-time series lead. Howard won this season's first meeting, 3-0 in Baltimore (9/29).
Originally scheduled as the home finale for Morgan State, the two teams agreed to swap home dates due to a scheduling conflict. The match will now become the final home contest for the host Lady Bison, who already celebrated their Senior Day on Sunday, Oct. 30 with a sweep of Hampton to capture their third straight northern division crown.
While the contest will not be Senior Day for the Lady Bison, Morgan State would like nothing else than to spoil Howard's home finale, while earning a signature win heading into the MEAC Championships. During the both the 2013 and 2014 campaigns, the Lady Bison ended Morgan State's regular season with losses on Senior Day.
Howard (21-5, 10-0 MEAC), which will play at Norfolk State tonight, enters the contest winners of 11 straight, following its win over Hampton. The victory was the 16th straight at home, which is the third longest home winning streak. The Lady Bison have not dropped a MEAC match since Oct. 2, 2015 and has won 24 straight league outings for the fifth longest conference win streak.
Morgan State is responsible for handing Howard its last MEAC loss (Oct. 2, 2015), following a 3-1 victory at Hill Field House.
Howard's Jessica Young had a team-high nine kills and hit for a .615 and Whitney Fields added seven kills in the win over Hampton. Tamia Dockery finished with 21 assists and Morgan Marlbrough collected a match-high 12 digs.
Morgan State (6-19, 6-4 MEAC) is coming off a 3-0 straight sets victory over Delaware State on Sunday for its annual Dig Pink match. Senior Haley McClure, who was also playing in her final home contest as a Lady Bear, finished with a match-high 16 kills, a .324 hitting percentage, eight digs, two service aces, a block and an assist in her home finale.
Keana Browne added 14 kills and recorded a hitting percentage of .440, while Natashia Barker finished with nine kills and a career- and match-high 20 digs. Roi Wallace had a match-high 35 assists, as the Lady Bears swept the season series from Delaware State and remained in third-place in the league standings.
