WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 21, 2019)-The Lady Bears found themselves in an unfamiliar position on Saturday morning in their finale of the Hoya Invitational against Binghamton. For the first time this season Morgan State entered the final day of a tournament not playing their opponent for an unblemished weekend record and tournament title. Instead they were facing their opponent in a matchup of teams searching for their lone win of the weekend.

Behind the stellar play of numerous Lady Bears, Morgan State pulled out a five-set victory over Binghamton, 3-2 (23-25, 28-26, 25-14, 23-25, 15-8) to end a season-long six-match losing skid. The win was the 460^th career coaching victory for Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier.

Tylar Roberson finished with a match- and career-high 26 kills, while Zoe McBride added 19 kills and had a career-high 23 digs for her ninth double-double of the season. Sophie Pajevic recorded her first double-double, finishing with a season-best 11 kills and 16 digs. Roi Wallace tallied a match-high 55 assists, while Jennevy Santos collected a match- and season-high 30 digs. 

Morgan State improved to 6-7 with the win and is now 3-1 in five-set contests this season. Binghamton remained winless at 0-12.

The Lady Bears trailed the Bearcats 15-9 in Set 1, before going on a 6-0 run to even the score at 15 apiece. Back-to-back kills from Pajevic and McBride tied the score at 23. But Binghamton scored the next two points for the 25-23 victory.

Morgan State built a 21-16 lead in Set 2, but the Bearcats came out of the timeout and scored four consecutive points to pull within a point at 21-20. The Lady Bears upped their lead to 23-20 on back-to-back errors by Binghamton.

Tied at 25 all, Roberson had a kill down the right line, which the line judge ruled was outside of the antenna. Coach Riley-Bozier challenged the play and it was eventually overturned, giving Morgan State a 26-25 lead. Binghamton would tie the score at 26 all on a blocking error by the Lady Bears, but Morgan State scored the final two points for the 28-26 victory.

Morgan State seemed to have control of the contest when it took a 2-1 lead, following its 25-14 victory in Set 3. The Lady Bears broke a 7-7 score by using a 9-1 spurt to take a 16-8 lead. Santos concluded a 3-0 run by Morgan State with an ace to close out the set and give the Lady Bears the win.

Binghamton would not go away, as it responded with its highest attack percentage of the match. In a set that featured 12 ties and one lead change, the Bearcats totaled 13 kills, while hitting .303 in the set. Despite recording 14 kills, Morgan State was held to an attack percentage of .091, as it committed a set-high 10 errors. The Bearcats scored four straight in the midst of a 6-2 run to increase its lead to 21-17. The Lady Bears countered with four straight points to tie the score at 21 all. But Binghamton scored four of the final six points to earn the 25-23 win and force a fifth set.

Morgan State came out on fire in final set, scoring the first three points and quickly jumped out to an 8-1 advantage when the teams switched sides. The Bearcats pulled within 12-8, but Morgan State closed out the set and match scoring the final three points all on Binghamton errors for the 15-8 win. The Lady Bears had eight kills and hit .238 in the set, while the Bearcats totaled four kills on 19 attempts with one error and an attack percentage of .158. 

As a team, the Lady Bears finished the match with 64 kills on 173 attempts, but committed 28 attack errors for a .208 hitting percentage. Shadae Debraux hit for a career-high .545 with a career-high seven kills on 11 attempts and Pajevic finished with a .350 hitting percentage. Morgan State collected 87 digs and behind a match-high four service aces by Pajevic, had 11 aces as a team. 

Binghamton was led by Francela Ulate's 21 kills and 18 digs. Ulate also had a team-high .367 attack percentage. Audrey Haworth also had a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Kiara Adams was the third Bearcat to earn a double-double, finishing with 41 assists and 10 digs. Kim Lavender had a team-high 25 digs, as the team finished with 74. The Bearcats totaled 49 kills on 156 attempts with 14 errors for an attack percentage of .224. Binghamton had four service aces with Ulate collecting three of them, but committed 18 service errors. 

The Bearcats held a 12.0-5.0 blocking advantage over Morgan State. Ellis Gadelha finished with six blocks, while Victoria Keghilan also had a match-high six blocks, including one solo. Morgan State was led by Sara Brown's four blocks.

The Lady Bears are off until Friday, Sept. 27 when they welcome the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks to Hill Field House for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for both teams. First serve is at 7 p.m.