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BALTIMORE, Md. (Sept. 28, 2017)-After a 13-day layoff since its last match, the Morgan State volleyball team will return to action on Friday, Sept. 29 when it visits Hampton in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Northern Division opener for both teams. First serve is at 6 p.m. at Holland Hall in Hampton, Va. The Lady Bears will then wrap up their weekend swing to Virginia with a MEAC contest at Norfolk State on Sunday, Oct. 1 at 3 p.m. at Gill Gymnasium in Norfolk, Va.
 
Last season the Lady Bears split the series against Hampton, as each team won on its home floor and defeated Norfolk State in both meetings. Morgan State leads the all-time series against Hampton, 40-8 and holds a 19-5 advantage over Norfolk State.
 
Morgan State (1-12) would like nothing other than to duplicate last season's success of beginning the MEAC slate 2-0, following home wins against both Hampton and Norfolk State.
 
"Hampton is one of those teams that always has some good athletes," said Morgan State head volleyball coach Ramona Riley-Bozier. "Preparing for them we can't put a whole lot of emphasis on what we think they are going to do, we are going to focus more on what we need to do.
 
"It's going to be a little tough going into their territory and seeing how the weather here in Baltimore is about 80, you know it's about 80-plus at Hampton, which truly is at their advantage, because their gym temperature is not volleyball friendly. So it's going to be very challenging for a couple of our athletes having to go there and play."  
 
"Norfolk always kind of finds away to keep lingering," said Riley-Bozier. "You can't get rid of them, even when you feel like you're playing at your best. They keep their composure and then they start trying to chip away at you. We've got to go in hard and go at them early and hopefully we can hang on, which is something we struggled with throughout the season against our non-conference opponents."
 
Morgan State enters the Hampton contest on a seven-match losing skid, following three losses in the Courtyard by Marriott Tournament (9/15-16), hosted by UNC Wilmington to end the non-conference schedule.
 
Despite the losses, Riley-Bozier, who has had to deal with injuries through much of the season, made some player and position adjustments on the court and it showed in the team's play. The Lady Bears played well in all three contests against Western Michigan, UNC Wilmington and nearly forced a fifth set with Liberty, before falling in four.
 
"I think sometimes when you do mix up the lineup, two things can happen. One, someone's going to rise to the occasion or two, it's going to be a belly flop. For us, Mykaela [Ross] was put in the starting lineup and she had an opportunity to shine a little bit. And we can get a chance to see what she is capable of. The crazy thing is she going to be called to play this weekend, because we are not sure what Cristen's [Coryatt] status is. Right now she's out and don't know if that's going to change."
 
Although the Lady Bears have been on hiatus from playing matches since that 3-1 loss to Liberty (9/16), it did not mean time off for the team.
 
"During the off week we didn't take any days off. We tried to do a lot more team bonding," said Riley-Bozier. "The girls actually kind of hung out all day on Saturday, which carried over to the football game, so that was pretty cool. Because we have some additional people out with injuries, we focused on some of the people who we are going to have to really rely on this weekend and getting them some additional reps in with passing as well as hitting." 
 
Morgan State has been paced offensively by Coryatt (168 kills) and Keana Browne (110). Roi Wallace has a team-best 430 assists, giving her 1,118 for her career. Defensively, Jasmin Hubbard has a team-leading 176 digs, while Coryatt is adding 117. Monette Daniels, who leads the Lady Bears with 16 service aces, also has a team-leading 26 blocks, while Browne has 25 blocks.
 
Hampton (5-11) is riding a three-match winning streak after going 3-0 during last weekend's MEAC North-South Challenge co-hosted with Norfolk State. The Lady Pirates would pick up a home win over South Carolina State, before defeating both North Carolina A&T State and Savannah State in Virginia Beach.
 
The Lady Pirates are led by Reeana Richardson (154 kills) and Lena Washington (133 kills, 119 digs, 12 service aces). Maja Petronijevic leads the team in digs with 171. Lena Reed-Petracek (279 assists) and Mallory Beard (151) have shared the duties at setter. Kyndall Nicholas has recorded a team-high 50 blocks, while Kelci Dixon has added 40.
 
Norfolk State (3-10) enters its Friday match against Coppin State on a two-match losing skid, after going 1-2 last weekend during the MEAC North-South Challenge co-hosted with Hampton. The Spartans would win their opening match at home against Savannah State, before falling to both South Carolina State and North Carolina A&T State in Virginia Beach.
 
The Spartans are led by Taylor Eichelberger, who has 109 kills on the season, while
Hope Forsythe (148 assists) and Quiana Griffin (126) have split the setting duties.
Melvina Brown leads the team on defense with 196 digs and has also totaled a team-best 17 service aces. Clara Kick has recorded 35 blocks and Clarke Tyler and Lexi Brown have each tallied 29 and 26 blocks, respectively.
 
Returning Home One Last Time
This weekend's trip to Virginia will also be a homecoming of sorts for Browne, a senior and Virginia Beach, Va. native.
 
Ironically Browne, a 6-foot-2 middle for the Lady Bears, was not recruited by either of the two Virginia MEAC schools, but was highly recruited by two of the three Maryland MEAC schools in Maryland Eastern Shore and Morgan State.
 
During her previous three trips back to Virginia, Morgan State is 1-2 on the road against the Hampton Lady Pirates and 2-1 against the Norfolk State Spartans. Browne too has also played better offensively on the road against Norfolk State. In two matches at Norfolk State since her sophomore season, Browne has totaled 31 kills, nine blocks, five digs and an assist. In two matches at Hampton, she has totaled 18 kills, nine blocks, three service aces and a dig.
 
Last season Browne had her best outing against the Spartans, totaling a career-high 21 kills, while adding six blocks, five digs and an assist in a five-set win. That performance would come three days after being held to just three kills at Hampton. Browne would however set career marks in service aces (3) and blocks with seven in the match against the Lady Pirates.  
 
With this being her final trip back to the Tidewater area as a player, Browne is certainly looking forward to going up against Hampton.
 
"I look forward to playing Hampton the most, because that's the first conference game of the season," said Browne. "We lost to Hampton at Hampton last year, so this is my last chance to beat them in their gym and start off conference play 1-0."