GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG hit a season-high .382 as a team and never trailed the entire match as the Spartans swept Morgan State, 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-7), on Friday evening in the first game of the Spartan Spiketacular for the host school.

The Spartans improved to 10-3 on the season, while the Bears slipped to 1-11 this year.

"It's a good win for us," said coach Patrick Nicholas. "I thought our offense was really clicking. We really wanted to work on our offense and our side-out efficiency, especially on the first ball. I thought we paid a lot of attention to it tonight. We attacked different areas of the net between the antennae and got everyone involved."

Junior Ariel Newman led the Spartan attack on Friday as she posted a match-high 11 kills and sophomore Olivia Humphries added 10 kills and a career-high .600 hitting percentage. Fellow sophomore Ari Lysacek had 19 assists and a team-high eight digs.

Ngebui Chafeh had four kills for the Bears, while four others had three kills apiece. Dina Beamon also had a match-high 12 digs for Morgan State.

The Spartans came out of the gates attacking as they took an early 5-1 lead on a kill by Caley Redden. UNCG would go on to extend its lead to as many as 10 points at 16-6 before finishing off the set with a pair of kills from Humphries to win the set, 25-15.

UNCG kept its foot on the gas pedal as once again the Spartans took control early by jumping out to a 10-3 lead on another kill by Humphries. After a Morgan State timeout, the Spartans continued to attack and took a 19-8 lead on a Lysacek service ace to force the Bears to take another timeout. Morgan State just wasn't able to recover as the Spartans took the set, 25-12.

After intermission, UNCG took a 5-0 lead, but the Bears held strong as the Spartans led just 11-6 midway through the set. That was as close as Morgan State would get though, as UNCG ran off 14 of the final 15 points to take the set, 25-7, and win the match.

The Spartans return to the court on Saturday as they face Norfolk State at 10:30 a.m. in Fleming Gymnasium before facing Gardner-Webb at 7:30 p.m.

AGATE

UNCG def. Morgan State 25-15, 25-12, 25-7

Morgan State (1-11) (Kills-aces-blocks) - CHAFEH,Ngebui 4-0-0; RILEY,Kierra 3-0-1; BOZIER,Dominique 3-0-1; JOHNSON,Ashley 3-0-0; COX,Erin 3-0-0; TAYLOR,Shaundalyn 1-0-0; ROLLINS,Kyla 1-0-0; LEMONS,Jourdan 1-0-0; SHY,Rhyan 0-0-1; Totals 19-0-2.0. (Assists) - . (Dig leaders) - BEAMON,Dina 12; LEMONS,Jourdan 9

UNCG (10-3) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Ariel Newman 11-1-1; Olivia Humphries 10-0-3; Caley Redden 8-0-0; Alissa Beaudway 4-0-1; Karrian Chambers 4-0-0; Billi Baker 4-0-0; Samantha Deutchman 2-0-1; Ari Lysacek 1-1-1; Lara Keyes 0-1-0; Kellie Orewiler 0-1-0; Totals 44-4-4.0. (Assists) - Ari Lysacek 19; Kimiko Naito 13. (Dig leaders) - Ari Lysacek 8; Kellie Orewiler 7

Site: Greensboro, N.C. (Fleming Gymnasium)
Date: Sep 17, 2010   Attend: 396   Time: 1:05  
Referees: Ronnie Mutter, Dave Rover

- UNCG -