Gameday

BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 3, 2017)-The Morgan State volleyball team returns to the court on Wednesday, Oct. 4, when it welcomes the Lady Bison of Howard to Hill Field House for a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Northern Division contest. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.
 
The contest against Beltway rival and back-to-back defending MEAC champion, Howard, will be the home opener for Morgan State. After 15 straight road contests, the Lady Bears will finally play in front of the home fans for the first time this season in an upgraded Hill Field House, equipped with a new center hung scoreboard and two video boards.
 
"Actually, I kind of like when we are on the road and we are playing because that's limited distraction that the team has to deal with and they tend to be less nervous when they are on the road," said Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier. "Sometimes playing at home can be a little tough, especially for new people and right now we are kind of relying on some new people to make some things happen. I think the girls are excited about playing at home. We have a new logo on the floor and eventually we'll have some video boards to possibly showcase. So, it's an exciting time for the athletes.
 
"Having Howard being that opening game is not going to be an easy road if we want to walk away with a victory," added Riley-Bozier. "They've won MEAC for the last two years in a row and coming off with a loss against Maryland Eastern Shore (MDES), so they are going to be ready to play. I'm hoping in this case with us being home we can hopefully use the crowd to give us that edge to take a match away from Howard."
 
After playing on the road for six consecutive weeks to start the season, sophomore setter Roi Wallace is looking forward to finally playing on her home floor in front of the Morgan State faithful in Hill Field House.
 
"Playing at home is going to be a real game changer for us I think," said Wallace. "We've had to deal with everyone else's home crowd and home atmosphere and I think that us being at home with our fans is going to be new and exciting for us. I'm not sure when we'll have access to use the video boards, but everyone is excited to see what the outcome is with that."
 
Morgan State (2-13, 1-1 MEAC) is coming off a 3-2 (25-23, 25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 15-7) victory at Norfolk State last Sunday, to end a season-long eight-match losing skid.
 
Senior Keana Browne led the Lady Bears with a team-high 18 kills and a team-high .464 hitting percentage, while adding three digs and a match-high six blocks. Junior Natashia Barker, who nearly recorded a double-double, finished with 10 kills and nine digs to go with five blocks and an assist.
 
Morgan State also received solid performances by freshman Mykaela Ross, who had a season-best nine kills, while Wallace had a match-high 41 assists, four digs, three service aces, two kills and two blocks. Sophomore Jasmin Hubbard tallied a match-high 21 digs, falling one shy of tying her career-high and senior Michaela Collins had a career-high 11 digs to go with six kills, a block and an ace.
 
"I think we did well. We struggled a little on Friday against Hampton, but we recuperated and worked on some things in practice," said Browne on the team's MEAC opening weekend in Virginia. "We came back for the Norfolk game and played like a totally different team. I think this win will be a great source of momentum for us going into this next conference game against Howard."
 
The Lady Bison (4-13, 1-1 MEAC) enter Wednesday's contest coming off a sweep of crosstown rival George Washington on Tuesday evening at home in their non-conference finale for the season. Reigning MEAC Player of the Week, Khaila Donaldson recorded 12 kills and 10 digs, while Tamia Dockery also had a double-double with 33 assists and 10 digs to led Howard. Jessica Young finished with a match-high 14 kills and Fola Wilson tallied a match-high 14 digs in the win.  
 
Like Morgan State, Howard too split its MEAC opening weekend matches, first falling to Maryland Eastern Shore on the road in five sets, before sweeping Delaware State at home. The loss to MDES ended an eight-match winning streak over the Lady Hawks, as well as put an end to Howard's 29-consecutive (regular season and tournament) victories against MEAC opponents.
 
Prior to the loss to Maryland Eastern Shore, Howard's last MEAC loss came on the road against Morgan State, a 3-1 defeat in Baltimore on Oct. 2, 2015.
 
Morgan State holds a 36-32 all-time series lead over Howard. However, the Lady Bison have won the last three straight and six of the last seven meetings against Morgan State. Wallace and her teammates are looking to build on the momentum from the Norfolk State win and carry it into a victory over Howard.
 
"The win at Norfolk was super important to us because we really needed to enter this week with at least one win in conference," said Wallace, who has tallied 1,182 assists for her career and is now 40 shy from moving into ninth all-time at Morgan State. "Knowing that Howard is the defending champs, but is also 1-1 in conference was important to us as well. Hopefully with the buzz over our Norfolk win, we can pull another one out."