Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational
Saturday, Sept. 3-Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016
East Lansing, Mich. (Jenison Field House)

Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016
Morgan State at Michigan State, Noon
Morgan State vs. No. 7 Florida, 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016
Morgan State vs. Central Michigan, 1 p.m.

Tournament Central | Morgan State Notes | Live Stats | Video

BALTIMORE, Md. (Sept. 1, 2016)-The Morgan State volleyball team will travel to East Lansing, Mich. this weekend to take part in the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational (Sept. 3-4), hosted by Michigan State. This will be the first-ever trip to Michigan for the Lady Bear program. Morgan State opens up play on Saturday, Sept. 3 against the host Spartans at noon, before closing out the opening day against No. 7 Florida. The Lady Bears conclude the tournament with a 1 p.m. match on Sunday against Central Michigan. All matches will be played at Jenison Field House.
 
MSU AGAINST THE FIELD: All three of Morgan State's matches this weekend will be against first-time opponents.
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears will compete in their third consecutive regular season tournament, when they take part in the Maddie Bingaman Memorial Tournament, hosted by the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Morgan State will face host UMBC on Friday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. The Lady Bears will then take on Robert Morris on Saturday, Sept.10 at 12:30 p.m., before closing out the tournament with a match against Winthrop at 5:30 p.m. All matches will be played at RAC Arena on the UMBC campus.
 
OPENING SERVE: Morgan State is 8-16 in season openers since the 1993 season, after it dropped a 3-0 decision to La Salle in the season opener in the La Salle Invitational (8/26). The Lady Bears, who have now lost five consecutive season openers, last won on opening day in 2011 when they defeated Saint Peter's 3-0 at the La Salle Invitational (8/26/11).
 
MORGAN VS. RANKED OPPONENTS: When the Lady Bears take on the No. 7 Florida Gators on Saturday, Sept. 3, it will be the fourth time MSU has faced a ranked opponent in 12 years and the first since 2013. The Lady Bears are 0-3 in their previous three contests against top-25 teams.
            - Aug. 31, 2013 lost to No. 20 Kansas, 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-18) at the Arizona Invitational.
            - Sept. 1, 2007 lost to No. 8 Washington, 3-0 (30-23, 30-19, 30-12) at the Gonzaga   Tournament.
            - Sept. 3, 2005 lost to No. 19 California, 3-0 (30-9, 30-9, 30-16) at the Century Tel/Classic Honda Premier, hosted by Texas State.
 
ROUGH START: Already plagued by several injuries heading into the opening weekend, the Lady Bears started the 2016 season off with four straight losses at the La Salle Invitational (Aug. 26-27). The Lady Bears dropped the opening match to host La Salle in three sets, before falling to NJIT in four to close out Day 1. Morgan State was then swept by Saint Francis-Pa. and fell to Quinnipiac in four sets in the finale.
 
WALLACE MAKES MOST OF START: Freshman Roi Wallace made the first collegiate start of her Morgan State career in the second match of the season and responded with a match-high 38 assists against NJT (8/26). The San Dimas, Calif., native also added five digs and a service ace.
 
RANKOV TIES CAREER-HIGH: Senior libero Minja Rankov tallied a match-high 19 digs in the loss to NJIT on Friday. The 19 digs also tied her career-high, which she previously set last season at Norfolk State (9/27/15).
 
BARKER NAMED TO LA SALLE TOURNAMENT: Natashia Barker was named to the La Salle All-Tournament team (8/26-27), after she totaled a team-leading 30 kills, 23 digs, three service aces and two blocks in four matches. A native of Phoenix, Ariz., Barker had her best match of the weekend when she tallied 11 kills, seven digs, a service ace and a block against New Jersey Institute of Technology (8/26).
 
MORGAN PICKED THIRD IN MEAC NORTH: Morgan State was picked to finish third in the northern 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 13-15 overall, 9-3 in the MEAC good for a second-place finish. Morgan State, which handed eventual MEAC champion, Howard its only league loss of the season, would reach the conference semifinal round for the first time since 2007.
 
TOURNAMENT EXPOSURE: This season Morgan State will face five opponents (Michigan State, Florida, Robert Morris, American and Howard) which reached the 2015 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.
 
MCCLURE NAMED 2016 CAPTAIN: Senior Haley McClure was named team captain for the 2016 season, as voted by her teammates. McClure, a two-year starter who has battled through injuries the past three years, recorded 123 kills, 110 digs, a team-leading 32 service aces, 12 assists and 15 blocks, while starting in 23 of the 28 matches played last season. A native of Ashburn, Va., McClure is a two-time first-team Morgan State All-Academic Team honoree and was a MEAC Commissioner's All-Academic Team selection as a sophomore. She is currently the vice president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee at Morgan State.
 
BOZIER ENTERS 29TH SEASON: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier enters her 29th season at the helm of the Lady Bear program.  The all-time winningest coach at Morgan State (426-434), Riley-Bozier guided the Lady Bears to 88 consecutive MEAC Northern Division wins between 1994-2003. She has led MSU to five MEAC Championships, three NCAA Tournament appearances and earned MEAC Coach of the Year honors five times. Bozier also coached the softball team at MSU for seven seasons and in 1999 led the team to its only MEAC title game appearance. A native of Kansas City, Mo., Bozier, is a graduate of Morgan State, where she was a two-sport start in volleyball and track. She is one of 11 players in the history of the program to have registered 1,000 career kills. On the track, Bozier was a three-time All-American and one of the top triple jumpers at Morgan. She still holds the UMBC meet record in the 60 meter dash (1983) and ran the first leg of the 4X100 relay, which in 1986 set the school record in a time of 44.47 seconds, which also still stands. That squad would also win the Penn Relays and finished second that year at the Division I National Championships. Bozier was inducted into the Morgan State Hall of Fame in 2003.
 
SOMEONE NEW: Morgan State will square off against four first-time opponents this season. When the Lady Bears head to East Lansing, Mich. for the Spartan Invitational (Sept. 3-4), they will face all three of their opponents (Michigan State, Florida, Central Michigan) for the first time.  MSU will then take on Middle Tennessee for the first time, when the two programs meet in Richmond, Va. for the VCU Invitational (Sept. 15-16).
 
SEVEN NAMED TO MEAC ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: Morgan State had seven players named to the MEAC Volleyball All-Academic Team during the 2015-16 school year. Three of the seven recognized (Michaela Collins, Minja Rankov and Shawnikia Smith) return for the 2016 season.
 
WELCOME TO THE CAVE: Morgan State will welcome the addition of five newcomers to the 2016 squad, three of which are freshman and two transfers. Those newcomers are freshmen Nnedi Oguayo (Beltsville, Md.), Jasmin Hubbard (Reno, Nevada) and Roi Wallace (San Dimas, Calif), and sophomore transfer, Natashia Barker (Phoenix, Ariz.) and junior transfer, Victoria Turnbough (Toledo, Ohio).