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BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 13, 2019)-The Lady Bears volleyball team will return to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Northern Division play on Monday, Oct. 13, when they travel to Norfolk, Va. to take on the Norfolk State Spartans. First serve is at 6 p.m. at Gill Gymnasium in Norfolk, Va.
 
Morgan State, in the midst of a two-match losing skid, enters the contest after a six-day layoff to celebrate homecoming festivities. The Lady Bears were dealt a 3-0 loss at Howard (10/8) in their last outing, which was also their first MEAC road contest of the season.
 
The Lady Bears (8-10, 2-3 MEAC, 1-2 MEAC North) were led by Tylar Roberson and Zoe McBride, who both had a match-high 12 kills. Roi Wallace finished with a match-high 25 assists to go with seven digs. She added two kills to hit for a match-best .400. Mykaela Ross tallied eight kills, while Jennevy Santos led the Lady Bears with 11 digs and Sophie Pajevic finished with nine digs.
 
Norfolk State (0-14, 0-5 MEAC, 0-3 MEAC North) is searching for its first win of the season. The Spartans are coming off being swept at home last Friday by Coppin State (11/18). Julisa Carrizosa had a match-best 11 digs and recorded a team-high eight kills to lead the Spartans. Jannel Ezeagwu and Anna Rupertova each had six kills and Halley McKnight finished with 15 assists. Ezeagwu totaled a match-high seven blocks.
 
SERIES RECORD: Morgan State leads the all-time series, 22-6. The two teams split last year's season series, each winning on the other's home floor.
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears will travel to the Sunshine State of Florida to face MEAC Southern Division foes Bethune-Cookman (B-CU) and Florida A&M (FAMU). It will mark the first time since 2002 that Morgan State will visit the two Florida schools on their home floors. Morgan State will first visit the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats on Friday, Oct. 18 in Daytona Beach, before traveling to Tallahassee, Fla. to face the Rattlers of FAMU on Sunday, Oct. 20. The FAMU contest will be the first regular season meeting between the two teams since 2006. The Lady Bears lead the all-time series against B-CU, 14-8. FAMU leads the series, 23-7 and has eliminated the Lady Bears from the MEAC Tournament the last two seasons.
 
THIS TIME IT COUNTS: When Morgan State took on North Carolina Central (10/4) it marked the first time since 2006 that a contest against a MEAC Southern Division opponent counted toward the MEAC's regular season standings. 2006 was the last time the MEAC held its annual MEAC Round-Up which saw the two divisions square off against each other. The league did away with the round-up in 2007 and until this season, any cross divisional play counted as a non-conference match. The Lady Bears will take on the entire MEAC Southern Division, including North Carolina A&T (10/6), at Bethune-Cookman (10/18), at Florida A&M (10/20) and South Carolina State (10/25).  
 
WALLACE BECOMES THIRD TO REACH 3,000 ASSISTS: Roi Wallace became the third Lady Bear in school history to reach 3,000 career assists, when the Lady Bears defeated Binghamton (3-2) in the finale of the Hoya Invitational (9/21). Wallace, who finished the match with 55 assists, reached the 3,000-plateau when her 46th assist of the match resulted in a kill by Tylar Roberson to bring the Lady Bears within a point at (21-20) in the fourth set. Wallace entered the season third on the Morgan State charts with a total of 2,536 career assists. She has currently totaled 652 assists this season to give her 3,188.
 
HUBBARD MOVES INTO FOURTH ALL-TIME IN DIGS: Senior Jasmin Hubbard picked up two digs in the win over North Carolina Central (10/4) to give her 1,002 career digs and move her past former Lady Bear Dina Beamon (1,000 digs from 2008-10) for fourth-place all-time on the Morgan State charts. Hubbard recorded four digs in the previous match against Delaware State (9/29) to give her exactly 1,000 digs for her career. The Reno, Nevada native entered the 2019 campaign with 974 career digs and was ranked sixth.
 
MCBRIDE EARNS THIRD MEAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Zoe McBride was named MEAC Player of the Week on Monday. It was her third MEAC weekly this season. McBride averaged 5.2 kills and 2.0 digs per set, while hitting .291 in two matches. The Ridgefield, Wash. native totaled 52 kills, 20 digs, six service aces and four blocks for the week. McBride had a match-high 27 kills to go with a .299 hitting percentage, nine digs and a career-high four service aces, as Morgan State overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Maryland Eastern Shore in the MEAC opener.
 
BOZIER RECORDS WIN NO. 460: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier, who entered the 2019 season six wins shy of career victory No. 460, secured the sixth victory of the season when the Lady Bears defeated Binghamton (9/21) in the finale of the Hoya Invitational. Riley-Bozier, who is the all-time winningest coach at Morgan State in any sport with 462 career victories as the volleyball coach, is also the softball program's all-time career leader with 161 victories in nine seasons at the helm. Riley-Bozier began 2019 ranked 33rd in career wins among active coaches on the NCAA's Division I coaching list.
 
AMONG THE LEAGUE'S BEST: Roi Wallace leads the MEAC in assists with 9.45 per set, while Zoe McBride leads the conference in kills at 4.59 per set and Tylar Roberson ranks fourth in kills (3.29 per set). Wallace is seventh in service aces (0.39 per set) and Jennevy Santos is fourth in digs (4.09). As a team the Lady Bears lead the MEAC in digs (14.69), while ranking second in hitting percentage (.189), third in assists (10.98) and kills (11.97).
 
TAKE FIVE: Prior to the North Carolina Central match (10/4), the Lady Bears played in three consecutive five-set matches and a total of six this season. Morgan State, which is 4-2 in five-set contests this season, had won two straight five-set contests before its loss to Delaware State (9/29).
 
BEST START EVER: The Morgan State volleyball team's 5-1 mark was its best start in school history through the first six matches, after going 2-1 in the Knights Fall Classic (Sept. 6-7). Twice the program has began a season with a 4-2 record (1982, 94). 
 
SAYING GOODBYE: Morgan State will say goodbye to its seniors, Jasmin Hubbard and Roi Wallace prior to its regular season finale 'Senior Day' match against Norfolk State on Nov. 3 at Hill Field House.
 
2019 MEAC CHAMPIONSHIP: This year's 2019 MEAC volleyball championship will take place November 22-24 in Washington, D.C. at Howard University's Burr Gymnasium.