Dover, Del. (Nov. 1, 2015) --- Jasmine Jackson posted her 10th double-double of the season, but it was not enough in Delaware State's 3-0 MEAC loss to Morgan State in Memorial Hall this afternoon.
The scores were 25-23, 25-12 and 25-19.
Jackson led all players with a season-high 20 kills and tied for the team lead with 11 digs in the contest. She also had a block assist to post 20.5 points in the match.
Evely Macedo led a balanced Morgan State attack with 12 kills, while teammate Carmen Fernandez had a match-high 32 assists.
The first set featured eight ties. The score was 9-9 before Morgan State scored six of the next eight points to open up a 15-11 lead. The Bears were ahead 21-17 when the Hornets fought back. DSU went on a 6-2 run to tie the set at 23-23. Jackson had five kills during the Hornet rally. Morgan State scored the last two points to take the set.
Morgan State led 8-3 early in the second set before the Hornets scored five of the next six points to pull to within one. The Bears answered with a 14-3 run to take control, and open up a 2-0 match lead.
The Hornets started quickly in the third set, opening up a 12-8 lead on a kill by Jenessa Helu off a feed from Marisol Arredondo. The Bears trailed 16-14 before scoring the next four points to open up an 18-14 lead. The Hornets scored the next two to tie the set at 18-18, but Morgan State tallied seven of the last eight points to win the set and match.
“I think we played well in spurts, right now we need to work on consistency,” said Delaware State head coach Whitney Johnson. “We have people in some new positions and they played well but now we have to get people through.”
The Bears posted a .278 hitting percentage in the match, recording 38 kills and 11 errors on 97 attacks. The Hornets had a .091 percentage in the contest (35/25/110).
Morgan State had 47 digs, compared to 44 for DSU. Alliyah McBean tied for the team lead with 11 digs, while MSU's Minja Rankov led all players with 13.
Arredondo had a team-high 27 assists for the Hornets.
The Bears improved to 11-13 overall and 8-2 in the MEAC, while DSU fell to 2-21 and 0-8.
“We are going to continue to work hard each day and come to practice ready to get better,” said Johnson. “That's our main focus this week, making it better for everybody else around us so that we all get better.”
The Hornets return to action on Friday (Nov. 6) with a MEAC contest at Hampton. The match begins at 6 p.m. in Hampton, Va. DSU is back home next Sunday (Nov. 8) for a 1 p.m. contest against UMES.
