Match 27 (MEAC Contest)
Morgan State (5-21, 3-9 MEAC) vs. Maryland Eastern Shore (11-12, 6-6 MEAC)
Sunday, November 7, 2021 | 1 p.m.
Baltimore, Md. (Hill Field House)
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BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 2, 2021)-Morgan State (5-21, 3-9 MEAC), winners of two straight at home, will close out the 2021 home slate on Sunday, Nov. 7 when it welcomes Maryland Eastern Shore to Hill Field House for a 1 p.m. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) contest. The match will also be Senior Day at Morgan State. Two-year member Kendal Hoges and four-year member Jasmin Perry, who will be playing in their final home contest, will be honored prior to the start.
 
The Lady Bears are coming off a 3-0 (25-16, 27-25, 25-16) loss to Delaware State on Friday night in Dover, Del. Gabriela Hiciano finished with a match-high 11 kills, while adding five digs, two assisted blocks, an assist and a service ace in the loss. Makila Billingsley finished with eight kills and Mackenzie Jefferson recorded a match-best 26 assists and a match-high nine digs, falling one dig shy of a double-double. Justyus Jackson recorded a team-leading four assisted blocks, including a solo block and Hiciano added two assisted blocks.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore (11-12, 6-6 MEAC) have dropped two straight, following a 3-1 (26-24, 17-25, 10-25, 25-9) loss at home to Coppin State on Friday.
 
MSU SERIES NOTES AGAINST THE SHORE: Morgan State leads the all-time series, 44-25 over Maryland Eastern Shore. The Hawks, who opted out of the 2021 Spring season, won this season's first meeting, 3-1 (25-19, 25-27, 25-16, 25-22) in Princess Anne, Md. (10/17).
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will close out the 2021 regular season on Friday, Nov. 12 when it visits crosstown rival Coppin State at 6 p.m. at the PEC Arena.
 
SAYING GOODBYE: Morgan State will say goodbye to its two seniors 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.

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.

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). The Lady Bears who are currently 2-3 in their last five contests, ended the first half going 1-6 in conference play.
   
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.
 
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.
  
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.

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.
 
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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.