Match 22 (MEAC Contest)
Morgan State (3-18, 1-6 MEAC) vs. North Carolina Central (5-11, 4-3 MEAC)
Friday, October 20, 2021 | 4 p.m.
Baltimore, Md. (Hill Field House)
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BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 20, 2021)-Morgan State returns home for two matches this weekend as part of its homecoming festivities, as it looks to begin the second half of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) slate on the right foot.
 
First up for the Lady Bears is a match-up against North Carolina Central on Friday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. at Hill Field House. Morgan State will then host South Carolina State on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. for its annual Homecoming match.
 
Morgan State (3-18, 1-6 MEAC), which is riding a five-match losing skid, is coming off a 3-1 (25-19, 25-27, 25-16, 25-22) road loss to Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday in Princess Anne, Md. Madison Grace recorded a match-high 17 kills and Gabriela Hiciano and Makila Billingsley each added 10 kills. Mackenzie Jefferson finished with a match-high 39 assists and Jadore Hayes collected a team-best 12 digs. Jasmin Perry led Morgan State with five assisted blocks, while Melanie Battle and Hiciano both recorded four assisted blocks in the loss.
 
North Carolina Central (5-11, 4-3 MEAC) ended a three-match losing skid with a 3-1 (26-24, 24-26, 25-17, 25-10) victory at home over Norfolk State (10/17). Arlanda Faulkner, who this Monday was named MEAC Player of the Week, finished with a match-high 17 kills and hit .457 for the match. Ammaarah Williams recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs. Lauren Janok, who earned MEAC Setter of the Week accolades on Monday, also had a double-double, finishing with 42 assists and 15 digs. Celene Morris led the Eagles with a team-high 19 digs.
 
MSU SERIES NOTES AGAINST NCCU: Morgan State leads the all-time series 3-1. The Eagles earned their first victory in the series when they defeated Morgan State, 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21) earlier this season in the MEAC opener in Durham, N.C. (9/24).
 
NEXT UP: The Lady Bears will close out their two-match homestand on Sunday, Oct. 24 with their annual Homecoming contest. The Lady Bears will welcome South Carolina State to Hill Field House for a 1 p.m. start. The Morgan State Alumni match will take place at 10 a.m.
 
A FRESH START: Morgan State will begin the second half of the MEAC schedule this Friday, Oct. 22, when it plays host to North Carolina Central at 4 p.m. at Hill Field House. The Lady Bears ended the first half going 1-6 in conference play.
 
STILL UNBEATEN: Morgan State improved to 24-0 all-time against South Carolina State, following its 3-0 sweep of the host Bulldogs (9/26) in Dukes Gymnasium in Orangeburg, S.C. The two teams will square off again on Sunday, Oct. 24 in Baltimore.
 
NOT SO HOME FEELING: The 2021 campaign has not been kind to Morgan State at home. The Lady Bears enter Friday's contest against North Carolina Central (10/22) winless at Hill Field House at 0-7.
 
A FRESHMAN WILL LEAD THEM: Freshman outside hitter Madison Grace has totaled a team-leading 231 kills (3.30 kills per set). A native of Clinton Township, Mich., Grace has reached double-digits in kills 12 times this season, including seven of the last eight matches. Grace is averaging 13.1 kills per match through her first seven MEAC contests and ranks second in kills per set amongst league leaders.
 
SAYING GOODBYE: Morgan State will say goodbye to two seniors at the end of the season in two-year member Kendal Hoges and four-year member Jasmin Perry. The two will be honored during the Lady Bears' Senior Day festivities prior to their match against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on November 7 at 1 p.m.
 
BOZIER APPROACHING 500 WINS: Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier entered the 2021 Fall season with 476 career victories, 24 wins shy of No. 500. She is now 21 wins away from the 500-win plateau. Riley-Bozier, who is the all-time winningest coach at Morgan State in any sport with 479 career victories as the volleyball coach, is also the softball program's all-time career leader with 161 victories in the nine seasons she coached at the helm.

BOZIER ENTERS 34TH SEASON: Morgan head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier enters her 34th season at the helm of the Lady Bear program. The all-time winningest coach at MSU (478), 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 first 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.

OPENING SERVE: Morgan State dropped to 9-20 in season openers since the 1993 season, after falling to visiting Cleveland State, 3-0 in the home opener (8/27). The Lady Bears' last opening day victory was a 3-2 win at home against Seton Hall in the opener of the Morgan/Towson Invitational (8/30/19).
  
MORGAN PICKED TIED FOR FOURTH IN MEAC: Morgan State was picked to finish tied for fourth with Maryland Eastern Shore in the eight-team Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) preseason poll, as voted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. In 2020-21, the Lady Bears were picked to finish tied for third with Delaware State in the MEAC Northern Division and ended up third.
      
2021 CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED: Junior middle hitter Melanie Battle (La Plata, Md.) has been named 2021 team captain, while senior middle blockers Kendal Hoges (West Orange, N.J.) and Jasmin Perry (Bowie, Md.) will serve as co-captains.
 
WELCOME TO THE CAVE: Morgan State welcomes the addition of eight newcomers to the 2021 squad, three freshmen, three sophomore transfers and two junior transfers. Those newcomers are freshmen Trinity Carruthers (Grand Prairie, Texas), Madison Grace (Clinton Township, Mich.) and Kayla Gaddy-Middleton (Dayton, N.J.) along with sophomore transfers Makila Billingsley (Plainfield, N.J.), Justyus Jackson (Davenport, Iowa) and Mackenzie Jefferson (Prosper, Texas) and junior transfers Kamryn Brown (Evergreen Park, Ill.), Jadore Hayes (Grapevine, Texas).
 
MORGAN EARNS USMC/AVCA ACADEMIC AWARD AGAIN: 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 2020-21 academic year. Morgan State had a team GPA of 3.62. It marked the second consecutive year the team has earned the award. Last season Morgan State, which received the award for the first time in program history, posted a team GPA of 3.48 for the 2019-20 academic year.
  
2021 MEAC CHAMPIONSHIP: This year's 2021 MEAC Volleyball Championship returns back to Washington, D.C. after a year hiatus. The championship tournament, which was held in Norfolk, Va. at Norfolk State University during the 2021 Spring season, will take place November 19-21, 2021 at Burr Gymnasium on the campus of Howard University. The last time the tournament was held in the Nation's Capital was during the 2019 season. Morgan State would reach the title match that season, falling to host Howard in a five-set thriller.