Match 26 (MEAC Contest)
Morgan State (5-20, 3-8 MEAC) at Delaware State (21-3, 9-2 MEAC)
Friday, November 5, 2021 | 6 p.m.
Dover, Del. (Memorial Hall)


BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 2, 2021)-Morgan State (5-20, 3-8 MEAC) will travel to Dover, Del. this Friday, Nov. 5 to take on Delaware State in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) contest. First serve is at 6 p.m. at Memorial Hall. The Lady Bears will look to spoil the Hornets Senior Night and home finale, while also handing them their first home loss of the season.
 
The Lady Bears are coming off a 3-0 (25-16, 27-25, 25-16) victory at home over Norfolk State on Sunday afternoon. Gabriela Hiciano finished with a match-high 14 kills, hit .407 and added nine digs, while Madison Grace recorded 12 kills. Makila Billingsley totaled 10 kills on 15 attempts with just one error to hit .600 for the match. Mackenzie Jefferson notched a double-double with a match-high 36 assists and had a team-high 10 digs. Jasmin Perry led the Lady Bears with a match-high three assisted blocks and Billingsley added two total blocks, including one solo.
 
Delaware State (21-3, 9-2 MEAC) ended a season-long two-match losing skid, by defeating South Carolina State, 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 27-25) on the road on Sunday. The shutout victory extended the Hornets' school record to 18 this season. Alondra Maldonado totaled a match-high 12 kills and hit .529, while Kristi Gomez added 11 kills. Malgorzata Andersohn totaled 22 assists and Jelena Dukic added 15 assists in the win. The Hornets finished the match hitting .342 as a team, including a set-best .684 in the second set with 15 kills on 19 attempts and two errors.
 
The Hornets, who earlier this season won a school-record 16 consecutive matches, are 12-0 at home this season. Morgan State has a 3-6 record on the road.
 
MSU SERIES NOTES AGAINST DSU: Morgan State leads the all-time series, 48-19. Delaware State has won the past four meetings, including this season's first contest, 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-15) in Baltimore (10/15).
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will close out their 2021 home schedule on Sunday, Nov. 7, when they host Maryland Eastern Shore for Senior Day. First serve is at 1 p.m. at Hill Field House. It will mark the final home contest for seniors Kendal Hoges and Jasmin Perry.
 
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.

IT'S ANOTHER HOME WIN: The Lady Bears secured their second straight home victory with a 3-0 defeat of Norfolk State (10/31). The win improved Morgan State to 2-8 at home this season. The Lady Bears picked up their first home win of the season in nine tries also with a 3-0 defeat of South Carolina State on Homecoming (10/24). The win ended a 10-match losing skid at Hill Field House dating back to the 2021 Spring season.
 
STILL UNBEATEN: Morgan State improved to 25-0 all-time against South Carolina State, following a 3-0 victory over the Bulldogs for Homecoming (10/24). The win marked the second sweep of S.C. State this season.

A FRESH START: Morgan State improved to 2-2 in MEAC play to start the second half of the league schedule, following a sweep of Norfolk State (10/31). Morgan State ended the first half going 1-6 in conference play.
  
NOT SO HOME FEELING: Despite being on a two-game home winning streak, the 2021 campaign has not been kind to Morgan State at home. The Lady Bears enter Sunday's home finale against Maryland Eastern Shore (11/7) with a 2-8 record at Hill Field House.
  
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 19 wins away from the 500-win plateau. Riley-Bozier, who is the all-time winningest coach at Morgan State in any sport with 481 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 (481), 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.

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 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.
 
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering more than 100 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.