As the Morgan State Bears Volleyball team opens a new chapter this fall, they’re reloading with fresh talent, seasoned leadership, and a hunger to break barriers.
“I’m very excited, this is my favorite group of girls that I have played with since I’ve been here, so I’m excited to see what we can do,” said junior middle blocker/outside hitter Jada Williams.
Despite the early exit in the playoffs, individual standouts from last season laid a strong foundation for this year’s campaign.
Williams and senior outside hitter/right side Daniela Ferreira were named team captains for the 2025 season, after both earning MEAC honors and team MVP/Most Improved awards last year.
“Daniela is our go to pin hitter, key moments when we need her she can just put the ball away,” said Williams.
Ferreira made the All-MEAC Second Team, earned MEAC All-Tournament honors, and was named team MVP, while Williams led the conference with 118 blocks, earned Most Improved Player honors, and was named to the All-MEAC First Team; both also made the MEAC All-Academic Team.
“They have continued to be leaders on and off the court for us, when I first recruited them they had similar missions, we want to evolve our program and we want to break barriers, they were very gung-ho on that mission, and willing to make a lot of sacrifices,” said head coach Xiomara Ortiz.
The team welcomed seven new players this year, and said goodbye to five, including senior setters Trinity Carruthers and Erin Carpenter, who were both named to the MEAC Volleyball All-Academic team.
“We had a really big group of seniors leaving and a big group of freshmen coming in,” said Ferreira. “So adapting them to how we want the culture to be, and adapting them from high school level to college level I feel like was a deal breaker in the beginning.”
Among the new additions are freshman setter Isabelle Brown, who earned First-Team All-State in Avon, Indiana and American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region honors. As well as freshman outside hitter/right-side Chloe Scott, who earned First and Second-Team All-County honors and was named to the Greater Rochester First Team in New York.
“Right now we have a freshman setter and she’s figuring out connections with people,” said Ortiz. “Depending upon what our offensive schemes will be, we’ll be relying on some freshman in the line up and that would be a cool opportunity for them.”
Ortiz is entering upon her 4th season as the leader of the Lady Bears. She is the program’s seventh head coach.
The Bears finished the 2024 season with a record of 6-22 and (2-12 MEAC), earning a spot in the MEAC quarterfinals before falling to rival Coppin State.
They started off the new season on the right track with a sweeping win against the University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff in the Betty Austin Invitational in Huntsville, Alabama. They hope to carry that momentum through the rest of the tournament and the season.
“I’m really excited, I think this is the first tournament that we actually get to play against other teams that we never played before so we get to see what we can do as a team and apply everything we’ve been working really hard on in practice,” said Ferreira.
Next they take on Alabama A&M University at 8 p.m. on August 29. The team wraps up the tournament against Southern University on Saturday, August 30 at 10 a.m.
