BALTIMORE, Md. (Sept. 22, 2018)-What a difference a year makes. Just a season ago the Lady Bears won a total of eight contests. Only one of those victories – a 3-1 defeat of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the finale of the Redhawks Invitational in Cape Girardeau, Mo. – was a non-conference win.
 
Saturday afternoon the Lady Bears picked up not only their eighth win of the season, but their eighth non-conference win of the 2018 campaign, following a 3-0 (25-10, 29-27, 25-20) sweep of South Carolina State in the final match of the Charm City Classic at Hill Field House. The eight wins are the most non-conference victories for the Lady Bears since 2006, when that team earned 12 non-conference wins.
 
Morgan State (8-8), in the midst of a season-long three-game winning streak, continued its dominance over South Carolina State, improving to a perfect 22-0 all-time against the Lady Bulldogs.
 
Zoe McBride and Kalysia Bates led Morgan State with a match-high eight kills each. Brook Adams, who was making her first start at the setter position, finished with a match-high 17 assists to go with four kills and a block. McBride led the Lady Bears with a match-high eight digs, while Mykaela Ross added seven digs and four kills.
 
The Lady Bears would hold a 10.0-3.0 blocking advantage over S.C. State. Deja Lester tallied a match-high six blocks, including two solo. Bates added four blocks and had two solo.
 
S.C. State (0-12) was led by Annissa Brayboy, who had seven kills and six digs, both team highs. Kyra Marshall had a team-best 15 assists to go with four kills and six digs and two solo blocks.
 
Morgan State will now turn its attention to its Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener next Friday, Sept. 28 against the three-time defending champion Howard Lady Bison. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at Burr Gymnasium in Washington, D.C.