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| HEAD COACH RAMONA RILEY-BOZIER Courtesy: MSUAthletics |
The win would give Morgan State's Hall of Fame head coach, Ramona Riley-Bozier, her 450thcareer coaching victory.
For the Lady Bears (9-9, 1-1 MEAC North), the win helped them rebound from a disappointing MEAC season opening loss at Howard on Friday. Norfolk State fell to 1-11, 0-2 in the MEAC with the loss.
"This weekend isn't what we wanted, however it's still nice to come away with a win on the road against Norfolk State," said Riley-Bozier, who is in the midst of her 31st season at the helm. "We played poorly against Howard and had those moments when we couldn't recover. We had a fairly decent practice on Saturday and we discussed moving on from the loss because there are several games left to be played."
Morgan State tallied 51 kills for the match and finished with an attack percentage of .233 for the match. The Lady Bears would record double digit kills in all four sets, including a set-best 14 kills and a .480 attack percentage in the fourth and final set.
Kalysia Bates had a total of 10 kills, while hitting .333 and Cristen Coryatt fell shy of a double-double with nine kills and eight digs. Monette Daniels added eight kills to go with a match-high eight blocks. Kheanna Landrum had a hitting percentage of .500 with seven kills and added a season-best seven blocks, including one solo, to help the Lady Bears to a 12.0-7.0 blocking advantage over Norfolk State.
Norfolk State was limited to an attack percentage of .050, as the Spartans had 33 kills and 27 errors on 120 attempts.
Anna Rupertova led the hosts with seven kills and a match-high 13 digs. Bojana Bolozan added seven kills and a team-best five blocks. Jill Aquino and Makenzy Johnson shared the duties at setter and finished with 13 and 11 assists, respectively.
Morgan State, which going into this two-match weekend stressed the importance of winning the first set and closing out, did just that. The Lady Bears would earn a 25-16 victory, while holding the hosts to just seven kills and a -.061 hitting percentage.
But the Lady Bears would allow Norfolk State to gain momentum with a 25-23 victory in Set 2. It would be the Spartans most productive set of the match, as they had a .286 percentage, while recording 13 kills with just five attack errors.
"We are happy about being victorious but a little disappointed about dropping a set," said Riley-Bozier. "In the first set that we won, we had eight errors [five attack and three serving]." Morgan State then had 11 combined errors, including seven on attack in Set 2. "The goal since we started is to get better and learn from our mistakes."
Following the intermission the Lady Bears regained control, recording kills of 13 and 14 in Sets 3 and 4, respectively to close out the match and win their seventh straight over Norfolk State.
"Win 450, doesn't even seem real," said Riley-Bozier on reaching the 450-win plateau. "I appreciate sports information, who reminded me and acknowledged it as an amazing accomplishment. I am truly humbled and it would take me a long time to name those athletes, coaches and staff that helped me to get to this point. It's never just about me. I would give all those wins back for a 2018 MEAC Championship. Something we can all enjoy together."
Kevin C. Paige, MSU Athletic Communications
MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC COMMUNICATONS
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