BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 21, 2019)-The Morgan State volleyball team will begin its quest for the program's sixth Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championship when the No. 2 seeded Lady Bears out of the MEAC Northern Division take the court on Friday night to face the third-seeded Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman in a quarterfinal match at 8 p.m. at Burr Gymnasium on the Howard University campus in Washington, D.C.
 
The contest will be the ninth meeting between the two teams in the MEAC Championship Tournament and the third in the last five seasons, with the series evened up at 4-4.
 
Morgan State (16-12, 10-5 MEAC) enters the contest winning eight of its final nine matches, including a season-long seven-match winning streak. The 16 wins are the most by a Lady Bear volleyball team since 2006, when that squad finished with 22 wins and advanced to the MEAC title match.
 
In the finale at Delaware State (11/17), Morgan State avenged an early season loss to the Hornets, defeating Delaware State in straight sets, while also eliminating the Hornets from postseason play.
 
The win was also the 470^th career coaching victory for head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier.
 
Zoe McBride hit .382 for the match and posted a match-high 16 kills and added a match-high 14 digs to collect her 16^th double-double of the season. Sara Brown hit for a match-high .444 with nine kills on 18 attempts and just one error, to help the Lady Bears hit .250 as a team. Tylar Roberson and Mykaela Ross each added six kills and Shadae Debraux had five. Roberson finished with 13 digs, while Jennevy Santos totaled 10. Roi Wallace finished with a match-high 40 assists to give her a season-best 1,044 and moved her into sixth on the single-season charts.
 
Bethune-Cookman (8-3, 5-9 MEAC) the No. 3 seed out of the MEAC Southern Division, ended the regular season on a three-match losing skid. The Wildcats would drop a 3-2 decision on the road to North Carolina Central (11/17) in the season finale. Jordan Jefferson recorded a double-double with 12 digs and 10 kills, while Faith Landreneaux tallied 11 kills. Ryleigh Taylor and Kortney Curtis totaled 24 and 23 assists, respectively. Shayla Eugene collected a school-record 39 digs in the loss.
 
SERIES RECORD VS. B-CU: Morgan State leads the all-time series against Bethune-Cookman, 15-8 after defeating the Wildcats, 3-2 in Daytona Beach, Fla. (10/18). It was the first time the Lady Bears had visited B-CU on its home floor since 2002. The Wildcats had won the previous four meetings, including a 3-2 victory last season in the New Orleans Tournament (9/8/18). In MEAC Championship action, the series is all time up at 4-4. Morgan State won the first four match-ups, but the Wildcats have won the last four, including a 3-0 quarterfinal win during the 2016 MEAC Championship.
 
NEXT UP: The winner between No. 2 Morgan State and No. 3 Bethune-Cookman will face the winner of No. 1 North Carolina A&T and No. 4 Maryland Eastern Shore in a semifinal match on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m.
 
LADY BEARS GET 2ND SEED IN NORTH: Morgan State enters the 2019 MEAC Championships as the second-seed in the northern division and will face the No. 3 seed from the MEAC's Southern Division, Bethune-Cookman in quarterfinal action on Friday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. at Burr Gymnasium on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.
 
CATNIP: Morgan State will square off against Bethune-Cookman in the MEAC quarterfinal round for the second time in the last four years. The Lady Bears won the first four meetings and B-CU has since won the last four, including a 3-0 sweep in the 2016 quarterfinals. MSU leads the all-time series, 15-8 after defeating the Wildcats in five sets this season in Daytona Beach, Fla. (10/18). It was the first time the Lady Bears visited the Wildcats since 2002. Bethune-Cookman head coach Brittany Williams is 4-4 in MEAC tournament matches. Williams guided the Wildcats to the program's only championship match appearance in 2015.
 
MCBRIDE NAMED MEAC CO-PLAYER OF YEAR: Zoe McBride was named MEAC Co-Player of the Year and to the All-MEAC first team, as announced by the league office. McBride, who shares the honor with North Carolina A&T's Edie Brewer, finished the regular season leading the team in kills (507), while finishing second in digs (301), blocks (43) and service aces (36), and had 10 assists. The Ridgefield, Wash., native totaled 16 double-doubles on the season and was named MEAC Player of the Week seven times and led the MEAC in kills and kills per set at 4.88 per set, which also sits 10^th in the nation.
 
WALLACE NAMED TO ALL-MEAC SECOND TEAM: Senior setter Roi Wallace was named to the All-MEAC second team. Wallace, finished the regular season earning six MEAC Setter of the Week honors. A native of San Dimas, Calif., Wallace led the team in assists for a fourth consecutive season, collecting a season-best 1,044 assists, which ranks sixth on the single-season chats. She ranks third on the all-time charts with 3,580 assists, 65 shy of moving into second-place. Wallace led the MEAC in total assists (1,044), assists per set (10.04) and second in service aces (0.50).
 
BOZIER RECORDS WIN NO. 470: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier earned career coaching victory No. 470, following a sweep of Delaware State (11/17). A native of Kansas City, Mo., Riley-Bozier, who is the all-time winningest coach at Morgan State in any sport with 470 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 with 454 career victories, which ranked 33rd in career wins among active coaches on the NCAA's Division I coaching list.
 
ALL-MEAC ACADEMIC TEAM: Morgan State had seven (Shadae Debraux, Jasmin Hubbard, Zoe McBride, Jasmin Perry, Roi Wallace, Nia Smith and Triniti Smith) selected to the MEAC Volleyball All-Academic Team. MEAC sophomore, junior and senior student-athletes with a 3.0 or better cumulative grade point average, as well as transfer student-athletes who have been in residence at the institution for at least one year, are eligible for All-Academic accolades.
 
SIXTH STRAIGHT: After failing to reach the MEAC Volleyball Championship Tournament during the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the Lady Bears will be making their sixth consecutive trip. Morgan State enters the championship with a 16-12 overall mark and finished as the second-seed in the MEAC Northern Division with a 10-5 overall MEAC record and 6-4 in the MEAC North.
 
MORGAN IN THE MEAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Lady Bears, who are making their sixth straight appearance in the MEAC volleyball championship tournament, have an all-time MEAC championship record of 46-35. Last season Morgan State dropped a tough 3-2 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.
 
BOZIER SEARCHING FOR NO. 6: Morgan State head volleyball coach Ramona Riley-Bozier, who is in the midst of her 32nd season at the helm of the Lady Bear program, will look to guide the Lady Bears to the school's sixth MEAC Volleyball title. The all-time winningest coach at Morgan State (470), Riley-Bozier has led MSU to five MEAC Championships, three NCAA appearances and earned MEAC Coach of the Year honors five times.
 
MCBRIDE, WALLACE EARN SIXTH MEAC WEEKLY HONOR: Zoe McBride was named MEAC Co-Player of the Week, while Roi Wallace was named MEAC Setter of the Week by the league office (Nov, 11). It was the sixth weekly honor for both. McBride hit .467, while recording 18 kills, four digs, three service aces and three blocks in the win at Coppin State (11/8). Wallace averaged 12.3 assists per set against Coppin State. She finished with a match-high 37 assists, five digs and two service aces in the win.
 
MAKE IT A DOUBLE: Sophomore Zoe McBride has tallied a career-best 16 double-doubles this season, while junior Tylar Roberson has 10 and Roi Wallace has totaled four.
 
AMONG THE LEAGUE'S BEST: Roi Wallace leads the MEAC in assists with 10.04 per set, while Zoe McBride leads the conference in kills at 4.88 per set. Jennevy Santos ranks second in the league in digs with 4.36 per set and Wallace ranks second in service aces (0.50). Tylar Roberson ranks fifth in kills (3.28 per set). As a team the Lady Bears lead the MEAC in assists (11.44) and kills (12.31), while ranking second in opponent hitting percentage (.185) and digs (15.01). Morgan State also ranks fourth in hitting percentage at .194.
 
PROTECTING HOME: Morgan State finished the 2019 home slate with a 9-3 mark, following its sweep of Norfolk State in the Hill Field House finale on Senior Day (11/3). The nine home victories are the most since the 2006 campaign, when that team went 9-0.
 
THIS TIME IT COUNTS: When Morgan State faced 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 faced the entire MEAC Southern Division and went 4-1 on the season, defeating both Bethune-Cookman (10/18) and Florida A&M (10/20) on the road and North Carolina Central (10/4) and South Carolina State (10/25) at home. Morgan State's lone loss came at home to North Carolina A&T (10/6), who would go on and win the MEAC Southern Division crown.
 
STILL UNBEATEN: Morgan State entered the season unbeaten against MEAC members North Carolina Central and South Carolina State and remained that way. The Lady Bears defeat NCCU (10/04) in four sets to improve to 3-0 against the Eagles and later swept SCCU (10/25) to extend its all-time series lead against the Lady Bulldogs to 23-0.
 
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 a season-best 1,044 assists this season to give her 3,580 for her career.
 
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. She currently has 1,057 career digs.
  
TAKE FIVE: Morgan State played in a total of seven five-set matches this season, going 5-2 in those contests. The Lady Bears began the season playing in back-to-back five-set contests, winning both of them over Seton Hall and William & Mary on opening day (8/30). Morgan State later played in three consecutive five-set matches, claiming the first two, before suffering its first five-set loss of the season 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 said 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. The Lady Bears would win in three sets.
 
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.