BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 30, 2026)--The Morgan State Volleyball team returned home to Hill Field House on Friday, fresh off a successful trip to rival Howard last week. Unfortunately, the Bears would drop their opening match of the Halloween weekend against North Carolina Central, 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 27-25) in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) match.
The contest was the MEAC Game of the Week live on the MEAC Network, as NCCU would sweep the season series. The match also marked the first time the two programs didn't go the distance and play all five sets, ending a streak of four consecutive matches.
Morgan State fell to 7-15 on the season and 6-4 in conference play, while North Carolina Central improved to 7-15 and 5-5 in the MEAC.
In the first set, the Bears fought hard but could not fend off the Eagles, as they took the opening set 25-23. This set featured three ties. The Bears were led by sophomore setter
Isabelle Brown, who led the set with nine assists. Senior outside hitter
Michaela Panekova pitched in with a set high four kills.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair, featuring 14 ties and eight lead changes. Both teams matched each other with three service aces a piece in the set. Junior Nathalia Ferreria Morris had two service aces herself. In the same set senior outside hitter
Hanna Nemeth made her presence felt with six kills.
The Bears were not going down without a fight though. They stormed out to a big lead in the third set. Following a kill by senior
Tyrah Weems, the Bears led 22-16. However, the Eagles soared through the storm and reigned victoriously, using an 11-3 run to close out the set and match with a 27-25 win. Nemeth continued her stellar performance, adding another five kills which gave her a match-high 14. The Eagles hit a match high .271 in this set.
Morgan State hit .194 for the match, totaling 38 kills, five service aces and 33 total assists. Nemeth hit .565 for the match and tallied a team-high 12 digs to record her first double-double of the season. Brown finished with 29 assists and had seven digs. Panekova finished with nine kills, while
Tre'Niya Miller hit .667 and finished with five kills on six attempts, all in the third set.
North Carolina Central was led by Kayla Riley who had 11 kills, Breylan Fairley who tallied 22 assists, and Talia Emmen who had nine kills, two service aces and a block herself. Hailey Gibbons collected a match-high 13 digs.
The match featured a combined 17 service errors with Morgan State committing 10 of them.
The Bears will have an off day before another match at home in Hill Field House on Sunday, Nov. 1 against the South Carolina State University Lady Bulldogs. This match will take place at 12:30 p.m. on the MEAC Network and will be Youth and Community Day, as well as the Bears' Orange Out contest. Morgan State will look to get back on track and complete the season series sweep of the Lady Bulldogs.
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified
high research (R2) institution offering more than 150 baccalaureate, master's degree, doctorate and certificate programs. 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.
