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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 8, 2019)-Tylar Roberson and Zoe McBride each tallied a match-high 12 kills, but it wasn't enough as the Morgan State volleyball team dropped a tough 3-0 (26-28, 18-25, 23-25) Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) decision on Tuesday evening at Burr Gymnasium.
 
The defeat was the second consecutive MEAC loss by way of shutout for the Lady Bears, who now fall to 8-10, 2-3 overall in the MEAC and 1-2 in the MEAC Northern Division.
 
Meanwhile Howard (8-11, 5-0 MEAC, 3-0 MEAC North), which is searching for its fifth consecutive MEAC title, appears to have hit its stride. The win was a season-long fifth straight for Howard. The Lady Bison, who earned their third straight victory over Morgan State, have now won seven of the last eight contests dating back to the 2015 season and trimmed Morgan State's all-time series lead to 37-36.
 
Tamar Wells led the Lady Bison with eight kills and Myca Mitchell finished with seven. Jurnee Tipton and Kira Porter each added six. Tipton and Abby Morrow each had a match-high 13 digs and Fola Wilson collected 11 digs. Kayla Diaz had 19 assists and Semira Blair added 11.
 
Morgan State trailed by as much as nine points (18-9) in the opening set, after Macy Witt-Nobles and Porter teamed up for a block. The guests used a 15-5 spurt to take their first lead of the set at 24-23. Roberson scored the final three points of a mini 5-0 run during Morgan State's spurt to give the Lady Bears the lead. A service error ended the Lady Bears' run and tied the score at 24 all. Roberson recorded the next to kills for Morgan State to give it a 26-25 advantage with the serve, but Howard would score the next three points for the victory. The Lady Bison tied the score at 26 on a kill by Mitchell and following an attack error by Morgan State, Porter's kill ended the set.
 
The Lady Bears hit for a set-high .143 in the first set, while recording a set-best 18 kills. However, 11 attack errors did in Morgan State. Howard was limited to just eight kills on 35 attempts and had five errors for an .086 attack percentage.
 
Howard's offense woke up in the Set 2, as it produced a set-best 15 kills for a set-high .317 attack percentage with just two errors on 41 attempts in the 25-18 win. Tipton had four kills in the set and hit .444. This time the Lady Bison had to play from behind, as Morgan State led throughout the early portion of the set and built as much as a three-point lead (10-7), following a service ace from Roi Wallace. A kill by Kailyn Williams capped off a 5-1 run by the hosts to give them their first lead at 12-11. After a kill by Mykaela Ross tied the score at 12-12, Howard scored the next four points in part of an 8-1 run to take control of the set at 20-13.
 
In Set 3, Howard recorded 14 kills, but committed 10 attack errors on 35 attempts for a .114 attack percentage. After combining for 30 kills in the first two sets, Morgan State was held to just seven kills with seven errors on 30 attempts for a .000 attack percentage. Howard trailed 12-6, before responding with a 9-2 spurt to take a 15-14 lead on a kill by Williams. Following a kill by McBride to even the score at 15 all, the Lady Bears reclaimed the lead at 18-17 on a combined block by Sara Brown and McBride. That would be the last lead for Morgan State. After a block by Shadae Debraux and Roberson tied the score at 21-21, Tipton recorded back-to-back kills to put the hosts in front 23-21. After the two teams traded service errors, Wells had an attack error, which brought the Lady Bears within a point at 24-23. But Wells would make up for it on the ensuing play with a kill to help the hosts escape with a 25-23 victory.
 
Wallace finished with a match-high 25 assists to go with seven digs. She also added two kills to hit for a match-best .400. Ross tallied eight kills, while Jennevy Santos led the Lady Bears with 11 digs and Sophie Pajevic finished with nine digs.
 
The Lady Bears and Howard each finished the evening with 37 kills. Morgan State had 129 attack attempts and committed 23 errors for a .109 hitting percentage, while Howard had 111 attempts and 17 errors for a .180 hitting percentage. Both squads also managed three service errors with Porter leading Howard with two aces and Wallace leading Morgan State with two. The Lady Bears had 12 service errors and Howard had nine.
 
The hosts finished the contest with 12.0 blocks as a team to 5.0 by Morgan State. Porter led the way with a match-high eight blocks, including two solo blocks for Howard. Mitchell added four total blocks. Morgan State was led by Brown's team-high three blocks. Debraux, Roberson and McBride all had two blocks.
 
Morgan State will be off for the rest of the week to enjoy homecoming festivities. The Lady Bears will hold their annual alumni match on Sunday, Oct. 13 at noon. The team will return to action on Monday, Oct. 14, when it travels to Norfolk, Va. to face the Norfolk State Spartans in a MEAC Northern Division contest at 6 p.m. at Gill Gymnasium.