Match 1
Morgan State "Lady Bears" (0-0, 0-0 MEAC) at Temple "Owls" (0-0, 0-0 American)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021
Site: Philadelphia, Pa. (McGonigle Hall)
Time: 6 p.m.
Series Record: Temple leads, 1-0
TV: ESPN +
Live Stats: Here
Notes: MSU Notes | Temple Notes | MEAC Notes
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.owlsports.com
Gameday: Here
 
BALTIMORE, Md. (Jan. 22, 2021)-The Morgan State volleyball team opens up the 2021 Spring campaign on the road when it travels to Philadelphia, Pa. to take on Temple in the season opener on Saturday, Jan. 23 at McGonigle Hall. First serve is at 6 p.m. and will air live on ESPN +. It will be the Lady Bears' first time on the court since a heartbreaking five-set loss to rival Howard in the MEAC Championship match (Nov. 24, 2019). Morgan State's 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19.
 
LAST WHISTLE: Morgan State concluded the 2019 season with a tough 3-2 loss to the Lady Bison of Howard in the championship match of the MEAC Volleyball Championship in Washington, D.C. (11/24/19). Tylar Roberson and Zoe McBride were named to the MEAC All-Tournament Team. It was the Lady Bears' first appearance in the MEAC title match since 2006.  
  
MORGAN PICKED TIED FOR THIRD IN MEAC NORTH: Morgan State was picked to finish tied for third with Delaware State 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. In 2019, the Lady Bears were picked to finish third and ended up going 18-13 overall, 10-5 in the MEAC for fourth and reaching the MEAC title match.
 
OPENING SERVE: Morgan State is 9-18 in season openers since the 1993 season, after it defeated Seton Hall, 3-2 in the opener of the Morgan/Towson Invitational (8/30/19). The Lady Bears, who prior to the victory lost seven consecutive season openers, had last won on opening day in 2011 when they defeated Saint Peter's 3-0 at the La Salle Invitational (8/26/11).
 
BOZIER ENTERS 33RD SEASON: Morgan head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier enters her 32nd season at the helm of the Lady Bear program. The all-time winningest coach at MSU (472), Riley-Bozier 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 MSU, 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.
 
SANNY RETURNS HOME: Morgan State assistant coach Sanky Sanny will return home on Saturday, Jan. 23, when the Lady Bears visit Temple. He 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. Sanny would earn a Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training from Temple in 2017. Sanny joined the Morgan State coaching staff in 2019 after spending the previous 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.
 
BOZIER THREE SHY OF 475: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier enters the 2021 Spring season three wins shy of career victory No. 475. Riley-Bozier, who is the all-time winningest coach at Morgan State in any sport with 472 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.
 
BATTLE RECEIVES McDONALD'S SCHOLARSHIP: Morgan State sophomore was one of 34 students who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to receive McDonald's Black & Positively Golden Scholarship to continue their education. The fund helped students who attend HBCUs continue their education despite impacts of COVID-19. Battle's winning essay landed her a $6,800 scholarship. In addition to the scholarships, McDonald's also surprised each winner with a special delivery, which included a tablet, school supplies and a congratulatory video, featuring notable HBCU alumni.
 
WELCOME TO THE CAVE: Morgan State welcomes the addition of eight newcomers to the 2021 Spring squad, five freshman and three junior transfers. Those newcomers are freshmen: Londyn Coles (Canal Winchester, Ohio), Gabriela Hiciano (Carolina, Puerto Rico), Tyasia McDuffie (Columbia, Md.), Jourdan Page (Bowie, Md.) and Alyssa Sampson (Dayton, Ohio), along with junior transfers Jada Bivins (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), Kendal Hoges (West Orange, N.J.) and Anaya Martin (Tyrone, Ga.).
 
MORGAN EARNS USMC/AVCA ACADEMIC AWARD: The Lady Bears volleyball program was honored as a recipient of the United State Marine Corps (USMC) and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2019-20 season. Morgan State, which received the award for the first time in program history, posted a team GPA of 3.48 for the academic year.
 
TOURNAMENT EXPOSURE: Morgan will face just one opponent this season (Howard) that reached the NCAA Volleyball Tournament in 2019. The Lady Bears will face the four-time defending MEAC champion Howard Lady Bison four times this season. The two will square off in Baltimore on Feb. 11-12 for the MEAC opening series, before closing out the season on March 18-19 in Washington, D.C.
 
2021 SPRING MEAC CHAMPIONSHIP: This year's 2021 Spring MEAC Volleyball Championship will take place April 2-3 in Norfolk, Va. at Echols Hall on the campus of Norfolk State University.