HACKENSACK, N.J. (Sept. 7, 2019)-A week ago Quinnipiac participated in the Morgan/Towson Invitational hosted by Morgan State. However, the two programs did not meet each other in the tournament, knowing that a week later they would meet in New Jersey. On Saturday the two not only met for the first time since 2016, but were squaring off for the Knights Fall Classic title.
 
In the end, the Bobcats would come out on top, defeating Morgan State 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-12) to hand the Lady Bears their lone loss of the weekend and claim the title.  
 
The Bobcats (4-2) improved to 4-3 all-time against Morgan State, while ending the Lady Bears' season-long three-match winning streak.
 
Kaleigh Oates recorded a match-best 14 kills and had a .591 hitting percentage to lead the Bobcats. Morgan Sherwin had nine kills and Olga Zampati had eight kills. Alejandra Rodriguez and Zampati each had a match-high 18 digs, while Aryanah Diaz finished with a double-double of 25 assists and 14 digs.
 
Morgan State (5-2) took a 25-24 lead in Set 1 after a kill from Zoe McBride, but the Bobcats came out of a timeout and scored three straight points, capped off by a kill from Oates to give Quinnipiac a 27-25 win. The loss gave Morgan State its first set defeat of the tournament.
 
In Set 2, each team had a run of six consecutive points in the middle of the set. Trailing 9-7, Morgan State went on a 6-0 run to take a 13-9 advantage. The Lady Bears built a 15-11 lead, before Quinnipiac countered with six unanswered points, capped off by an ace from Zampati. The Bobcats held a 20-19 lead, before scoring the next three points in the midst of a 5-1 run to claim the 25-20 victory.
 
Quinnipiac used a 6-0 spurt in Set 3 to take an 8-4 advantage, following a kill by Diaz. The Bobcats then used a 13-5 run to increase their cushion to 22-11. A service error on Quinnipiac ended its run, but the Bobcats closed out the set and match by scoring the next three points for the 25-12.
 
Morgan State was paced by Tylar Roberson's nine kills and 11 digs, while McBride had eight kills and 12 digs. Sara Brown added five kills on seven attempts and had a match-best hitting percentage of .714. Jennevy Santos collected 12 digs and Roi Wallace finished with 25 assists and five digs.
 
The Lady Bears hit for .056 as a team with 28 kills, but had 21 attack errors in 126 attempts. Morgan State was also done in by its serving, as it had one service ace from McBride, but committed seven service errors as a team.
 
Quinnipiac recorded 44 kills and had a team hitting percentage of.224 with 16 attack errors. The Bobcats totaled five service aces and had six errors.
 
The Lady Bears held a 9.0-7.0 blocking advantage over the Bobcats. McBride led the team with six blocks, while Sara Brown added five. Shadae Debraux finished with three blocks and Wallace added two.
 
Morgan State will return to the road when it makes the program's first-ever trip to Portland, Ore. to compete in the Les Schwab Rose City Showdown (Sept. 13-14), hosted by Portland State University. The Lady Bears will square off against host Portland State on Friday at 12:30 p.m. PST, before facing Cal State Northridge later that evening at 5 p.m. PST. Morgan State closes out the tournament on Saturday against Neveda at 10:30 a.m. PST. This will be the first meeting between the Lady Bears and their three opponents.