BALTIMORE, Md. (Sept. 26, 2019)-The Morgan State Lady Bears volleyball team will open up the MEAC slate on Friday, Sept. 27, when they welcome the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to Hill Field House. First serve is at 7 p.m. and will be the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) opener for both teams.
 
The Lady Bears (6-7) concluded the non-conference schedule last weekend in Washington, D.C., competing in the Hoya Invitational hosted by Georgetown. Morgan State would drop its first two contests, falling to both Georgetown and Florida International (9/20) in four sets. The Lady Bears ended the tournament with a five-set win over Binghamton (9/21), which also ended a season-long six-match losing skid.
 
The victory provided Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier her 460th career coaching win, while senior Roi Wallace collected her 3,000th assist, to become just the third Lady Bear to reach that mark.
 
Juniors Tylar Roberson and Sophie Pajevic were each named to the Hoya Invitational All-Tournament Team, while Wallace was later selected as All-MEAC Setter of the Week on Monday.
 
Roberson finished the week with a team-high 52 kills (4.00 kps), 30 digs, three service aces and two blocks in three matches. A native of Elkhart, Ind., Roberson notched a double-double with 15 kills and 12 digs and a block against host Georgetown. She then recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 10 digs and a block against FIU. Roberson closed out the weekend with a season-high 26 kills, while adding eight digs and three service aces in a five-set win over Binghamton.
 
Pajevic, a native of Arandelovac, Serbia, began the week hitting a season-high .750 with six kills on eight attempts, eight digs, two blocks and a service ace in the opener against Georgetown. The followed up with four kills, eight digs, five assists and a block against FIU. Pajevic concluded the weekend with a season-high 11 kills and 16 digs to record her first double-double of the season in the finale against Binghamton.
 
A native of San Dimas, Calif., Wallace averaged 9.92 assists per set over the weekend. She tallied a129 assists to go with 189 digs, four service aces and two kills in three matches, to earn her third MEAC weekly honor this season.
 
Wallace began the weekend recording 45 assists, eight digs and a kill against the host Hoyas. She added 29 assists, six digs, two service aces and a kill against Florida International to close out the opening day. Wallace then finished out the tournament with 55 assists, five digs, two aces and a block in the win over Binghamton. Her 46th assist of the match resulted in a kill by Roberson to bring the Lady Bears within a point at 21-20 in the fourth set, which gave Wallace exactly 3,000 assists for her career, making her just the third player in Morgan State history to reach the 3,000-plateau.  
 
Maryland Eastern Shore (5-10) enters the contest on a two-match losing skid, after going 1-3 at the Hartford Invitational last weekend to end the non-conference slate. The Hawks were dealt a five-set loss to St. Francis-Booklyn in the opener, before defeating host Hartford in five. MDES then suffered losses to Central Connecticut State in four and Lafayette in five.
 
The Hawks are led by Alexis Lee (2.84 kps) and Tatjana Trickovic (2.18 kps). Ivana Blazevic leads the team in assists (7.43 aps) and service aces with 39. Defensively, Stella Johnson is averaging a leading (.369 kps), while Lidia Chery leads the team with 68 blocks.