BALTIMORE, Md. – The Howard volleyball team cruised to a three-set victory (25-12, 25-11, 25-18) over Morgan State on Thursday night at the Hill Field House. With the win, the Bison move to 3-0 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) action to sit atop the Northern Division standings.
The Bears fell to second in the Northern Division with a 2-1 league mark and 2-15 overall.
Howard (13-5) was led by junior Khaila Donaldson with 13 kills, her fourth consecutive match in double digits. Senior Dominique Cleggett connected on nine of 12 swings for a team-high .750 hitting percentage to along with three blocks.
Sophomore Tamia Dockery spread out 27 assists as seniors Katherine Broussard and Morgan Marlbrough added 12 digs apiece. Junior Carlise Cardoza had a match-high three service aces.
Tonight, Marlbrough moved into second all-time in program history with 1,181 career digs.
The Bison limited the Bears to a -.011 hitting mark and just 18 kills. Haley McClure tallied six kills and Jasmin Hubbard had 10 digs to pace the home team.
The two squads traded service errors to start the match before Howard pulled away to an 11-4 lead. A pair of kills and a block by Cleggett extended the deficit to 21-10 and MSU decided to burn a timeout. Back on the court, Donaldson came through with back-to-back kills to end the set, 25-12.
The second set started much like the first as the Bison got out to another 11-4 advantage and the Bears called for time. Cardoza served up an ace before Donaldson added a kill-block combo to push the lead to 17-8. Cleggett tacked on two more kills and a block with Broussard. A service error and attack error closed the set in HU's favor, 25-11.
MSU showed its fight in the third set as Howard used a timeout with the score tied at 5. The Bears took a 9-8 edge behind four straight points but the Bison quickly knotted the set at 10. MSU would go up 13-10 but it would not last long as HU got back in front, 17-14, and the Bears needed a break. The Bison refused to slow down as they ended the match on a 6-4 run.
The Bison return to Burr Gymnasium on Sunday, Oct. 2 to take on Coppin State. First serve will take place at 3 p.m.
