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VOLLEYBALL IS BACK: The Morgan State volleyball team opens up the 2019 campaign at home this weekend when it co-hosts the Morgan/Towson Invitational (Aug. 30-31). It will mark the first time in 15 years, since 2004, that the Lady Bears will open the season at home. Morgan State kicks off the season against Seton Hall on Friday, Aug. 30 at 1 p.m., before taking on William & Mary that night at 7 p.m. The Lady Bears will close out the weekend on Saturday against crosstown rival Towson at 6 p.m. MSU and tournament participant Quinnipiac will not meet this weekend. All matches will be played at Hill Field House.
 
MSU AGAINST THE FIELD: The Lady Bears and Seton Hall last met during the 2012 season and the Pirates hold a 2-0 series lead. William & Mary and Morgan State will meet for just the second time in program history with the Tribe winning the lone meeting in 2000. Towson and Morgan State last met in 2012 and the Tigers hold an 18-4 series lead.
 
LAST WHISTLE: Morgan State concluded the 2018 season with a 3-2 loss to the Rattlers of Florida A&M (FAMU) in the quarterfinal round of the MEAC Volleyball Championship in Washington, D.C. (11/16/18). It was the second consecutive year the Lady Bears' season came to an end in the quarterfinal round to FAMU, who also won 3-1 in Princess Anne, Md. (11/17/17).
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears will remain at home when they welcome Siena to Hill Field House for a non-conference match on Tuesday, Sept. 3. First serve is at 1 p.m.
  
OPENING SERVE: Morgan State is 8-18 in season openers since the 1993 season, after it dropped a 3-0 decision to La Salle in last season's opener in the Delaware Classic (8/24/18). The Lady Bears, who have lost seven consecutive season openers, last won on opening day in 2011 when they defeated Saint Peter's 3-0 at the La Salle Invitational (8/26/11).
 
MORGAN PICKED THIRD IN MEAC NORTH: Morgan State was picked to finish third in the northern division of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) preseason poll, as voted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Last year, the Lady Bears were picked to finish third and went 13-15 overall, 5-5 in the MEAC for fourth.
 
BOZIER ENTERS 32ND SEASON: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier enters her 32nd season at the helm of the Lady Bear program. The all-time winningest coach at Morgan State (454), Riley-Bozier begins 2019 ranked 33^rd in career wins among active coaches on the NCAA's Division I coaching list. She guided the Lady Bears to 88 consecutive MEAC Northern Division wins between 1994-2003. She has led MSU to five MEAC Championships, three NCAA Tournament appearances and earned MEAC Coach of the Year honors five times. Bozier also coached the softball team at MSU for nine seasons and in 1999 led the team to its only MEAC title game appearance. A native of Kansas City, Mo., Bozier, is a graduate of Morgan State, where she was a two-sport start in volleyball and track. She is one of 11 players in the history of the program to have registered 1,000 career kills. On the track, Bozier was a three-time All-American and one of the top triple jumpers at Morgan. She still holds the UMBC meet record in the 60 meter dash (1983) and ran the first leg of the 4X100 relay, which in 1986 set the school record in a time of 44.47 seconds, which also still stands. That squad would also win the Penn Relays and finished second that year at the Division I National Championships. Bozier was inducted into the Morgan State Hall of Fame in 2003.
 
NEW FACE ON THE SIDELINE: Sanky Sanny will begin his first season as the Lady Bears assistant coach. Sanny spent the past two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, Pa., where he helped the team compile a combined 52-16 overall record and 33-5 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Last season he helped the Tigers to a 31-6 record and 18-1 in league play, as they captured the program's first-ever CACC title and advanced to the NCAA Division II East Region championship match. Sanny spent his collegiate career as a member of Temple's men's club team, helping the Owls earn their first Atlantic Collegiate Volleyball Conference title in 2015. He would earn a Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training from Temple in 2017.  
 
UNBEATEN STREAKS ON THE LINE: Morgan State will look to extend its winning ways, as it enters the season unbeaten against three its opponents: Florida International (1-0), North Carolina Central (2-0) and South Carolina State (22-0). The Lady Bears will face Florida International on Sept. 20 on the first day of the 2019 Hoya Invitational. Morgan State will host North Carolina Central on Oct. 4 for Alumni Night and will welcome South Carolina State to Baltimore for its Go4Goal event on Oct. 25.
 
SOMEONE NEW: Morgan State will square off against three first-time opponent this season, in Cal State Northridge, Nevada and Portland State. The Lady Bears will face all three opponents during the third weekend of the season in Portland, Ore. in the Les Schwab Rose City Showdown (Sept. 13-14).

RIVALS TO HOST MORGAN/TOWSON INVITATIONAL: This season the Lady Bears and crosstown rival Towson will co-host the 2019 Morgan/Towson Invitational (Aug. 30-31) to kick of the season. All matches will be played at Hill Field House on the Morgan State campus. This will mark the second straight season the Lady Bears have hosted a tournament. Last season they co-hosted the Charm City Classic with Coppin State in a cross divisional match-up between members of the MEAC Northern and Southern Divisions.
 
2019 LEADERS ANNOUNCED: Senior Roi Wallace and junior Mykaela Ross will serve as the team's 2019 leaders.
 
BOZIER SIX SHY OF 460: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier enters the 2019 season six wins shy of career victory No. 460. Riley-Bozier, who is the all-time winningest coach at Morgan State in any sport with 454 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 begins 2019 ranked 33^rd in career wins among active coaches on the NCAA's Division I coaching list.
 
TRACKING WALLACE TO 3,000 DIGS: Roi Wallace enters the season with a total of 2,536 career assists, which ranks third on the Morgan State charts. The senior setter set a career-high 60 assists last season against Saint Peter's (8/29/18) and is now 464 assists away from becoming just the third Lady Bear to reach 3,000 career digs.
 
HUBBARD CLOSING IN ON 1,000 DIGS: Senior Jasmin Hubbard enters the 2019 campaign 26 digs away from reaching the 1,000-digs plateau. The Reno, Nevada native has tallied 974 career digs and is currently fifth all-time at Morgan State.
 
SEVEN NAMED TO MEAC ALL-ACADEMIC TEAMS: Morgan State had seven players named to the 2018 MEAC Volleyball All-Academic Team, based on their academic success during the 2017-18 school year. Five of the seven recognized (Shadae Debraux, Jasmin Hubbard, Mykaela Ross, Triniti Smith and Roi Wallace) return for the 2019 season, while Monette Daniels and Kheanna Landrum both graduated. Debraux, Hubbard, Smith and Wallace along with former Lady Bears Kalysia Bates, Daniels and Landrum were also named to the MEAC Commissioner's All-Academic Team for maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better during the 2018-19 academic year.
 
TOURNAMENT EXPOSURE: Morgan will face just one opponent this season (Howard) that reached the NCAA Volleyball Tournament in 2018. The Lady Bears will face the four-time defending MEAC champion Howard Lady Bison on Oct. 8 in Washington, D.C. and again on Nov. 1 in Baltimore.
 
WELCOME TO THE CAVE: The Lady Bears welcome the addition of five newcomers to the 2019 squad, two of which are freshman and  three junior transfers. Those newcomers are freshmen Melanie Battle (La Plata, Md.) and Mason Creery (Richmond, Va.), along with junior transfers Sophie Pajevic (Arandelovac, Serbia), Tylar Roberson (Elkhart, Ind.) and Jennevy Santos (Kissimmee, Fla.).
 
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 Burr Gymnasium on the campus of the Howard University.