DURHAM, N.C. (Sept. 24, 2021)-Ammaarah Williams recorded a double-double with a match-high 21 kills and had 12 digs, while Lauren Janok also had a double-double with 48 assists and 11 digs, to lead host North Carolina Central past Morgan State 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21) on Friday evening at McDougald-McLendon Arena. It was the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) opener for both teams.
 
N.C. Central (2-8, 1-0 MEAC) hit .357 as a team and totaled 58 kills for the match. The Eagles hit a set-best 17 kills and had an attack percentage of .517 in the opening set.
 
Morgan State (2-13, 0-1 MEAC) finished the contest with 50 kills and hit .290 as a team. The Lady Bears recorded a set-best 17 kills in the fourth and final set and hit .367 in Set 2.
 
Freshman Madison Grace led the Lady Bears with 18 kills and junior Jadore Hayes totaled a match-high 23 digs. Sophomore Gabriela Hiciano, who was celebrating her birthday today, added a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs. Senior Jasmin Perry hit for a match- and career-best .727 attack percentage, as she finished with eight kills on 11 attempts and no errors. Freshman Trinity Carruthers also had a career-night with 25 assists to go with three digs and a solo block.
 
Trailing two sets to none, the Lady Bears and host Eagles went back-and-forth through the first combined 24 points and were tied at 12 all. NCCU would use a 7-2 run to pull in front 19-14. Morgan State scored the next five points to even the score at 19 apiece. The scored would be tied once again for the 12^th and final time when the Eagles committed a service error to make it a 20-20 contest. Morgan State then proceeded to put together another 5-0 run, capped off by a kill from Grace for the 25-20 victory.
 
The Eagles finished with 10 service aces, but had 14 service errors. Morgan State committed 12 service errors and had five aces. Morgan State out blocked NCCU, 5.0-2.0. Grace led the Lady Bears with three total blocks, including one solo. Kendal Hoges had two assisted blocks.     
 
Next up for Morgan State is a trip to Orangeburg, S.C. to take on South Carolina State (0-10, 0-1 MEAC) in a MEAC match on Sunday, Sept. 26. First serve is at 1 pm. at Dukes Gymnasium. The Lady Bulldogs were dealt a 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-11) defeat by visiting Coppin State on Friday.