Morgan State University Athletics

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Oct. 20, 2019)-The last time the Morgan State volleyball team visited the Florida A&M (FAMU) Rattlers was in 2002. The Lady Bears would suffer a 3-0 loss to FAMU.

Morgan State's last win over the Rattlers would come two years earlier in the MEAC championship match, the Lady Bears' fifth tournament title. 

However, to search for Morgan State's last regular season win over FAMU, one would have to go all the way back to the 1995 season.

On Sunday, Morgan State put to rest all past demons involving its nemesis FAMU, as it defeated the host Rattlers, 3-1 () inside the Al Lawson Center. With the win, the Lady Bears ended a 15-match losing skid to FAMU, which included opening round losses the past two seasons in the MEAC Tournament, as well as a 24-year drought between regular season victories against the Rattlers.

"I don't think anyone knew it's been that long, but plenty of us knew that it has been a while since we've pulled out a win against FAMU," said Wallace, who recorded a match-high 52 assists to go with 12 digs to earn her third double-double of the season. "Going into it we were ready to play, and it feels sweet to be able to end our losing streak with a win against them." 

Despite dealing with gloomy and rainy weather in Daytona Beach, followed by tropical storm Nestor which hit the Tallahassee area and forced the team to have to stay 2 hours and 40 minutes away in Jacksonville, the Lady Bears' trip to the 'Sunshine State' proved to be what they needed in order to end a three-match losing skid. 

Zoe McBride totaled a match-high 26 kills, Tylar Roberson had 15 and Mykaela Ross added 13, as the three combined for 54 of Morgan State's 61 kills for the match.

"This weekend my performance was reflected by my team's hard work," said Ross, who hit for a match-high .400 against the Rattlers. "By all of us playing our roles it created opportunities to score, which amplified our energy on and off the court, leading us to a victory.

"I think the motivation was knowing that this was our redemption. Not only from losing to them at MEAC [Tournament], but for us to turn our season around as well." 

Jennevy Santos, coming off a career-high 34 digs in Friday's win at Bethune-Cookman, tallied a match-high 23 digs, while Roberson added 12 to earn her seventh double-double of the season.  

Morgan State (10-11, 4-4 MEAC) would collect 65 digs for the match, compared to 48 for the Rattlers, who fell to 6-17, 4-4 MEAC.

13 years since their last regular season contest, during the 2006 MEAC Round-Up in Orangeburg, S.C. and 17 years since last playing in Tallahassee, the Lady Bears would come out sluggish, dropping the first set to the host Rattlers, 25-14. Morgan State recorded eight kills that set, and had 13 attack errors for an attack percentage of -.135. FAMU finished with nine kills and hit .185 in the win. 

Set 2 Morgan State turned the tables to win by an identical 25-14 score. The Lady Bears recorded a set-best 17 kills and committed just one error for a .457 attack percentage. 

Morgan State wasn't finished as they hit .419 in the third set, totaling another 17 kills to take a 2-1 lead over the Rattlers, following a 25-15 victory.

The Lady Bears, who never trailed in the fourth and final set, put FAMU away with a 10-4 spurt, capped off by a kill from McBride to give the guests a 19-10 advantage. The Rattlers scored the next two points to pull within 19-12, but Morgan State closed out the set with a 6-1 run sealed with a kill by Sara Brown for the 25-13 victory.  

Morgan State recorded a set-high 19 kills and had an attack percentage of .375 in Set 4. Florida A&M finished with six kills and had five errors on 33 attempts for a hitting percentage of .030.

Prior to the match, fellow seniors Jasmin Hubbard and Wallace addressed their teammates. 

"We both just told them that it was important to stay calm and play the game we know how to play," said Hubbard. "FAMU is a strong team and they aren't going to go out without a fight. So if we want to win, we need to step on the gas from the beginning.

"We didn't tell the team about how we haven't beaten FAMU since Roi and I have been at Morgan, but right after we scored the last point we expressed to everyone how big of a deal it was. It felt good to be a part of the team that finally ended the 24-year drought and the 15-match losing streak to them."

Florida A&M was led by Alex Gosha, who had eight kills and 10 digs, while Maria Yvett Garcia finished with eight kills and eight digs. Ilayda Nurkan had 16 assists and Elena Dimitrova totaled 10. Nahla Muhammad notched a team-high 14 digs for the Rattlers, who have now dropped four straight. 

The Lady Bears held a 6.0-5.0 advantage in blocks. Shadae Debraux led Morgan State with a match-high three blocks, including a match-high two solos. McBride finished with two blocks. FAMU was led by Alexys Mann, who had three blocks and Garcia added two. 

Morgan State will conclude its MEAC cross divisional schedule on Friday, Oct. 25, when it welcomes MEAC Southern Division foe South Carolina State to Hill Field House. First serve is at 6 pm. 

This will be the 23rd meeting between the two programs with the Lady Bears holding a commanding 22-0 series lead.

The Lady Bulldogs (0-18, 0-6 MEAC) are coming off a 3-0 home loss to Delaware State on Sunday. S.C. State will host UNC Ashville on Tuesday, Oct. 22 before visiting traveling to Baltimore to face Morgan State.