BALTIMORE, Md. (Sept. 3, 2023)--The Morgan State volleyball team closed out the 2023 Morgan/Towson Invitational on Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-9) loss to visiting Temple in the finale at Hill Field House.
 
Morgan State (2-5) was led by Makila Billingsley and Ainara Fernandes, who each had five kills. Erin Carpenter had nine assists, two kills and three digs, while May Karrick finished with four kills, six assists, two digs and an assisted block. Alyssa Sampson had a team-leading seven digs and recorded a match-high two service aces.
 
The Bears finished the match with 21 kills on 83 attempts and had 23 errors. Morgan would hit -.025 for the contest.
 
The Owls (6-1) produced 42 kills and hit .400 for the match. Temple tallied doubled digit kills in every set and committed just eight attack errors on 85 attempts. The guests wrapped up the match by recording a set-best in kills (18) and attack percentage (.630).
 
Taylor Davenport led the way with a match-high 15 kills, while Avery Luoma added 10. Samantha Jo Mikosky finished with seven kills and hit .583. Chelci Banks hit a match-high .833, totaling five kills on six attempts and no errors. Patrycja Zielinska collected 33 of the team's 36 assists to go with a match-high two service aces, three digs and two kills for an attack percentage of .667.
 
Temple held an 8.0-5.0 blocking advantage over Morgan State. Mikosky tallied a match-best six blocks, including a high of four solo blocks. The Bears were led by Justyus Jackson, who recorded three combined blocks.
 
The Bears will travel to New York this weekend to compete in the Columbia Tournament (Sept. 8-9) hosted by Columbia University. Morgan begins the tournament with a single contest on Friday against Rutgers at 3 p.m. On Saturday, the Bears will face host Columbia at 11 a.m., before closing out the tournament against Manhattan at 2 p.m. All matches will be played at Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.
 
 
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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.Mor