BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 12, 2021)-The Morgan State Lady Bears closed out the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular season by putting up a fight on the road against rival Coppin State, before eventually falling, 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-21) on Friday night at PEC Arena.
 
Madison Grace led Morgan State (5-23, 3-11 MEAC) with a match-high 14 kills and Makila Billingsley added nine kills. Alyssa Sampson recorded a team-high 13 digs in the loss, while Mackenzie Jefferson totaled a match-high 31 assists. Gabriela Hiciano fell shy of a double-double with 12 digs and eight kills.
 
Coppin State (15-11, 9-5 MEAC) and Morgan State each tallied 38 kills, had 33 assists and 3.0 blocks. The Lady Bears finished with 47 digs and Coppin State had 46. The difference in the contest came in the attack errors, as Morgan State had 17 and Coppin State finished with seven. The Eagles hit .316 as a team, while Morgan State recorded a .198 hitting percentage. The Lady Bears also committed 10 service aces, while totaling four with two of the aces coming from Justyus Jackson. 
 
Morgan State fell behind in the opening set, 5-1 and trailed 10-4, before going on a 9-6 run capped off by a kill from Hiciano to pull the guests within 16-13. Morgan State could not overcome the three-point deficit as the Eagles closed out the set on a 6-2 spurt to earn a 25-18 win.
 
In Set 2, Coppin State used an 8-3 run to break a 7-7 tie and take a 15-10 advantage. Morgan State went on a 3-0 run with back-to-back kills from Jasmin Perry and Billingsley and then got a service ace from Jefferson to bring the Lady Bears within two points at 15-13. However, the Eagles responded with five straight to increase their lead to 20-13. Coppin would go on to win the set, 25-18 to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.
 
Morgan State jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led 8-4 in Set 3, following back-to-back kills by Billingsley and Hiciano. But Coppin State went on a 9-4 run to take its first lead of the set at 13-12. The Lady Bears tied the score at 13 all on an assisted block by Perry and Billingsley, but the hosts scored the next three points to take a 16-13 lead. Morgan State battled back with a 7-4 run to even the score three times with the last coming at 20-20 on a kill by Grace.
 
Coppin State scored the next three points, before a Coppin service error provided Morgan its last point of the night. The Eagles then got back-to-back kills from Paola Caten to give the hosts a 25-21 victory, thus ending the set and match.
 
The Eagles were led by Caten, who finished with 10 kills, seven digs and an assist. Miajavon Coleman had nine kills, 11 digs, a service ace and an assisted block. Andrea Tsvetanova had a team-high 21 assists to go with four kills, four digs and an assisted block. Ashley Roman recorded a match-best 14 digs, a match-high four service aces and added four assists for the Eagles.
 
Morgan State will now direct their attention to next week's MEAC Volleyball Championship (Nov. 19-21), which returns to the Nation's Capital after a year hiatus. The tournament will be hosted by Howard University and held at Burr Gymnasium in Washington, D.C. Last year's championship tournament was held in Norfolk, Va. at Norfolk State University during the 2021 Spring season. The last time the tournament was held in Washington, D.C., was during the 2019 season. Morgan State would reach the title match that season, falling to host Howard in a five-set thriller.