Match 28
Opponent: Florida A&M Rattlers (10-15, 9-1 MEAC)
Date: Friday, Nov. 16, 2018
Site: Burr Gymnasium (Washington, D.C.)
Serve: 2 p.m.
Series Record: Florida A&M leads, 22-7
Live Stats: here
Gameday: here
 
BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 15, 2018)-The Morgan State Lady Bears, the fourth-seed out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Northern Division will take on the top-seeded Florida A&M Rattler out of the MEAC Southern Division in a MEAC Quarterfinal match on Friday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. at Burr Gymnasium on the campus of Howard University.
 
Morgan State (13-14, 5-5 MEAC) enters the contest having lost five of its last six matches, while FAMU (10-15, 9-1 MEAC) has won two straight and seven of its last eight matches.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST FLORIDA A&M: This will be the 30^th meeting between the two teams with FAMU holding a 22-7 series lead. The contest will mark the second consecutive year the two will meet in the quarterfinal round, as well as the 21^st time in the MEAC Tournament, which the Rattlers hold a 13-7 series lead, following last season's 3-1 victory. The Rattlers have been Morgan State's most played opponent in the MEAC Tournament.
 
NEXT UP: The winner will advance to the semifinal round on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. and will take on the winner of the Maryland Eastern Shore (North No. 2-seed) versus North Carolina A&T (South No. 3-seed) match
 
MCBRIDE NAMED TO ALL-MEAC ROOKIE TEAM: Freshman Zoe McBride was named to the MEAC All-Rookie Team earlier this week. McBride finished the regular season leading the team in service aces with 41, while finishing second in kills (309) and digs (250) and third in blocks with 38. The Ridgefield, Wash. native totaled nine double-doubles on the season and was named MEAC Rookie of the Week five times. She finished the regular season ranked in the top-10 in the MEAC in hitting (8^th), service aces (2^nd) and points (4^th).
 
ROSS, WALLACE CLAIM FINAL MEAC WEEKLY HONORS: Sophomore Mykaela Ross was named MEAC Defensive Specialist of the Week, while junior Roi Wallace was named MEAC Setter of the Week for their performances last week. It was the first honor for Ross this season, while Wallace picked up her fourth honor. Ross recorded five blocks, eight digs and four kills at Delaware State (11/9) and added five more blocks, two kills, two service aces and a dig in the season finale at Maryland Eastern Shore (11/11). Wallace tallied 35 assists, three digs, a kill and a service ace against Delaware State (11/9). She then finished the regular season with 32 assists, eight digs and a block at Maryland Eastern Shore.
 
SEVEN NAMED TO MEAC ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM: Morgan State had seven players named (Monette Daniels, Shadae Debraux, Jasmin Hubbard, Kheanna Landrum, Mykaela Ross, Triniti Smith, Roi Wallace) to the 2018 MEAC Volleyball All-Academic Team, based on their academic success during the 2017-18 school year for maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.
 
LADY BEARS FINISH AS THE FOURTH-SEED IN MEAC NORTH: The Morgan State volleyball team enters this weekend's MEAC Championship as the fourth-seed in the northern division, after finishing with a 13-14 overall mark and 5-5 in the division. This will be the Lady Bears' fifth consecutive trip to the MEAC volleyball championship.
 
MORGAN IN THE MEAC CHAMPIONSHIP: Morgan State has an all-time MEAC championship record of 46-34. Last season Morgan State dropped a 3-1 decision to Florida A&M in the quarterfinal round. The Lady Bears, who have reached the title match 12 times, winning the crown five times, have not won the championship since 2000. Morgan State's last appearance in the title match came during the 2006 season, resulting in the Lady Bears suffering a 3-0 loss to Florida A&M.
 
SEARCHING FOR NO. 6: Morgan State head volleyball coach Ramona Riley-Bozier will look to guide the Lady Bears to the school's sixth MEAC Volleyball title. The all-time winningest coach at Morgan State (454), Riley-Bozier has led MSU to five MEAC Championships, three NCAA Tournament appearances and earned MEAC Coach of the Year honors five times.
 
LOSING SKID REACHED A SEASON-HIGH: The Lady Bears' loss to rival Coppin State (11/4) was Morgan State's fourth straight, setting a new season-long losing skid. All four losses would come at home, where the Lady Bears began the season winning its first five contests, before dropping the final four.
 
MCBRIDE EARNS 5TH MEAC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK HONOR: Freshman Zoe McBride was named MEAC Rookie of the Week on Oct. 29. It was her second consecutive week and fifth MEAC weekly honor of the season. A native of Ridgefield, Wash., McBride recorded a double-double in two matches. She began with 15 kills, 15 digs and added four service aces and three blocks against Howard (10/26). McBride then hit .286 against Norfolk State, finishing with 11 kills and 12 digs. It was the eighth doubled-double this season for McBride.
 
BOZIER REACHES 450 VICTORIES: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier entered the 2018 season needing nine more wins to reach career victory No. 450. On Sunday, Sept. 30, she picked up career milestone victory No. 450, following a 3-1 win at Norfolk State. Riley-Bozier, who is the all-time winningest coach at Morgan State in any sport with 454 career victories as the volleyball coach, is also the softball program's all-time career leader with 161 victories in the nine seasons she served as head coach.
 
TRACKING WALLACE: Roi Wallace tallied 32 assists in the regular season finale at Maryland Eastern Shore (11/11), giving her 2,495 career assists thus far, which ranks third on the Morgan State charts. She set a career-high 60 assists earlier this season in a win over Saint Peter's (8/29).
 
HUBBARD CLOSING IN ON 1,000 DIGS: Junior libero Jasmin Hubbard collected 12 digs against Coppin State (11/4), giving her 908 career digs. Hubbard is now 92 digs away from reaching the 1,000-digs plateau.
 
BOZIER IN 31ST SEASON: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier is in the midst of her 31st season at the helm of the Lady Bear program. The all-time winningest coach at Morgan State (454), 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 nine 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.
 
UNBEATEN STREAKS STILL INTACT: Morgan State entered the season unbeaten against four of its opponents and remained that way, following victories over Niagara (13-0), Prairie View A&M (2-0), Jackson State (2-0) and South Carolina State (22-0). The Lady Bears first faced Niagara on Aug. 31 in the Golden Flashes Classic and swept the Purple Eagles. Morgan State then met both Prairie View A&M and Jackson State in the New Orleans Tournament on Sept. 7 and swept the Panthers, before needing five sets to defeat the Jackson State Tigers. Last week Morgan State played host to South Carolina State on Sept. 22 in the finale of the Charm City Classic and swept the Lady Bulldogs.
 
BATES NAMED MEAC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore Kaylisa Bates was named MEAC Co-Player of the Week on Oct. 15. A native of Phenix City, Ala., Bates hit .500 in two matches over the weekend to lead Morgan State to a 2-0 week. Bates totaled 28 kills and six blocks and added an ace and a dig. The 6-foot-1 middle hitter finished with 17 kills and hit .640 as Morgan State defeated Delaware State (10/12) in straight sets. She added 11 kills and six blocks (three solo) to help Morgan State end a four-match losing skid to Maryland Eastern Shore (10/14).
 
MORGAN SURPASSES 2017 WIN TOTAL: The Lady Bears had a total of eight wins all of last season. This season, Morgan State totaled 13 victories during the regular season, including eight non-conference wins. With its 3-1 victory at Norfolk State (9/30), Morgan State picked up its ninth victory of 2018, to surpass last season's total. The 13 wins are the most since 2015 (13 wins).
 
DANIELS NAMED MEAC CO-DEFENSIVE SPECIALIST OF THE WEEK: Monette Daniels was named MEAC Co-Defensive Specialist of the Week on Monday, Oct. 1, as announced by the conference office. A native of Detroit, Mich., Daniels totaled nine blocks, three digs and 12 kills, while hitting .300 to lead Morgan State to a 1-1 weekend. Daniels would finish out the weekend strong, as she tied her career high for blocks in a single match with eight, while adding two service aces, three digs and eight kills for a .316 hitting percentage in the win at Norfolk State (9/30).
 
CORYATT, BATES NAMED TO CHARM CITY CLASSIC TEAM: Senior Cristen Coryatt and sophomore Kalysia Bates were named to the Charm City Classic All-Tournament team (9/23). A native of Sugar Land, Texas, Coryatt would hit for .279, while totaling 23 kills, 14 digs and four aces in five sets played. The 5-9 outside hitter finished with a match-high 21 kills, a .321 hitting percentage, nine digs and two aces in a four-set win over North Carolina A&T (9/21). Bates finished with nine total blocks, including three solo, 16 kills, seven digs and three aces. A native of Phenix, Ala., Bates recorded five blocks, one solo and added four digs, eight kills and an ace in a four-set victory over North Carolina A&T. She added five blocks, including two solo to go with three digs, two aces, eight kills and hit for .353 in the finale over the Lady Bulldogs.