Matches 28 (Senior Night/MEAC Finale)
Friday, Nov. 11, 2022
Morgan State (3-24, 2-11 MEAC) vs. Coppin State (20-9, 11-2 MEAC)
Baltimore, Md. | Hill Field House | 6 p.m.
Live Video
 
BALTIMORE, Md. (Nov. 11, 2022)--The Morgan State volleyball team will close out the regular season tonight when it welcomes crosstown rival Coppin State to Hill Field House. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. Friday's contest will also be Senior Night at Morgan State, as senior middle, Melanie Battle will be honored prior to the match.
 
BEAR CLAWS: Morgan State (3-22, 2-9 MEAC) is coming off a 1-3 road loss at Maryland Eastern Shore on Wednesday in Princess Anne, Md. The host Hawks would hold off the Lady Bears (23-25, 14-25, 25-21, 10-25) to claim two of the three matchups this season, including both MEAC contests. Mackenzie Jefferson recorded 20 assists and nine digs, falling short of a double-double. Jefferson did however surpass the 1,000 assists mark for her career at MSU with 1,005 in two seasons. Alyssa Sampson led the team with 14 digs and Makila Billingsley finished with seven kills. Melanie Battle and Justyus Jackson each added six kills. Jourdan Page and Jefferson each had a match-high three solo blocks.  
 
BIRD SEED: Coppin State (20-9, 11-2 MEAC), enters tonight's contest looking to clinch a share of the MEAC regular season crown. The Eagles, who were in the driver's seat of winning the title outright, had their seven-match winning streak snapped by Delaware State on Sunday, Nov. 6, following a 3-2 loss on the road. Yaniris Miller-Green recorded a team-high 16 kills and Ashley Roman collected a team-high 26 digs. Ammaarah Williams (13 kills, 13 digs) and Miajavon Coleman (11 kills, 10 digs) each had double-doubles. Andrea Tsvetanova also earned a double-double, finishing with a match-best 47 assists and 10 digs.
 
SERIES NOTES: Morgan State leads the all-time series, 48-22. Delaware State has won the past seven meetings, including this season's first contest, 3-0 in Dover, Del. (10/14).
 
NEXT UP: Morgan State will direct its attention to next week's MEAC Volleyball Championship, hosted by Delaware State University. This year's championship will take place Friday, Nov. 18-Sunday, Nov. 20 at Memorial Hall in Dover, Del. The Lady Bears will enter the tournament as the seventh-seed and will await their opponent to be announced once all the regular season matches are played out.
 
SAYING GOODBYE: Morgan State will say goodbye to its lone senior, Melanie Battle prior to tonight's home finale 'Senior Night' match against crosstown rival Coppin State (11/11). The match will also be the Lady Bears' regular season finale.
 
JEFFERSON REACHES 1,000 ASSISTS PLATEAU: Junior setter Mackenzie Jefferson recorded 20 assists in Wednesday's contest at Maryland Eastern Shore to reach the 1,000-assists plateau for her Morgan State career. Jefferson's performance gave her 1,005 assists and counting in two seasons at Morgan State. The Prosper, Texas native currently ranks 11^th all-time on the Lady Bears' career charts.
 
NOT SO HOME FEELING: The 2022 campaign has not been kind to Morgan State at home. The Lady Bears fell to 1-5 this season at Hill Field House, following a 3-0 loss to Delaware State (11/8).
 
JACKSON SURPASSES 100 CAREER DIGS: Justyus Jackson recorded a match-high five blocks, including one solo at Norfolk State (10/30) to give her 102 blocks for her Morgan State career, which ranks 17th all-time at Morgan. The junior middle blocker from Davenport, Iowa, has totaled 57 blocks this season and is 13 blocks shy of reaching the single-season mark of 70 blocks, which would be tied for 15^th all-time on the Morgan single-season charts.
 
STILL PERFECT: Morgan State completed a season sweep of MEAC foe South Carolina State, following its 3-1 victory on the road over the Bulldogs (10/23). The win was Morgan State's 27^th straight victory over the Lady Bulldogs in as many meetings, keeping its unbeaten streak alive. S.C. State is the lone MEAC opponent that Morgan State has never lost to in program history.
 
LET'S GO FIVE: Morgan State and North Carolina Central played five sets in the MEAC opener with the visiting Eagles defeating Morgan State 3-2. It was the second five-set contest this season for both teams. NCCU improved to 2-0 in five setters, while the Lady Bears fell to 1-1. Morgan's first five-setter of the season was a 3-2 non-conference win over Maryland Eastern Shore (9/16) at the George Mason Invitational.
 
WON AND COUNTING: First-year Morgan State head coach Xiomara Ortiz picked up her first collegiate coaching victory and first win at Morgan State, following a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Maryland Eastern Shore (9/16) in the opener of the George Mason Invitational. The victory also marked the first win of the season for the Lady Bears, who also ended a 15-match losing skid dating back to last season.
 
ORTIZ TAKES OVER THE HELM: On May, 25, 2022, Xiomara Ortiz was announced as the new head coach of the Morgan State volleyball program. Ortiz, who became the seventh coach in program history, takes over for Ramona Riley-Bozier, who during her 34-year career captured nine MEAC regular season titles, four outright MEAC Tournament titles, guided the Lady Bears to three NCAA Tournament appearances, while becoming the school's all-time winningest coach in any sport with 481 victories. Ortiz comes to Morgan after spending a year as the assistant coach at Shippensburg University during the 2021 season and the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Lehigh University. A native of South Setauket, N.Y., Ortiz had a stellar four-year career as a libero at Binghamton University, where she set the school records for single-season digs (551) and career digs (1,925) in 116 matches played. As a freshman, she earned America East All-Rookie honors and was named to the All-America East Second Team as a sophomore. She was also a three-time member of the America East Honor Roll.
 
MORGAN PICKED SEVENTH IN MEAC: Morgan State was picked to finish seventh in the eight-team Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) preseason poll, as voted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Last season the Lady Bears were picked to finish tied for fourth in the MEAC with Maryland Eastern Shore and ended up seventh.
 
COLEMAN NAMED ASSISTANT COACH: Maegan Coleman will enter her first season as an assistant coach at Morgan State for the 2022 season. Coleman comes to Morgan after spending the 2021 season as the head coach at Cheyney University. Prior to Cheyney, Coleman also had one-year stints at West Alabama and Lamar Community College. While at LCC, the team ranked 13th in the nation for block solos, 32nd in digs and 37th in service aces in 2019. A native of Lancaster, Texas, Coleman began her collegiate career at Tyler Junior College, before concluding her playing career at Prairie View A&M. She helped the Panthers win two Southwestern Athletic Conference Western Division titles. Coleman was awarded the Student-Athlete Academic Award three times, and was the first student-athlete from Prairie View A&M to earn a Nike Internship.
 
 
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 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.