PHILADELPHIA - The Explorers will head south to Baltimore, Md. for the second time in as many weeks for nonconference action. The Blue & Gold will face off with the Morgan State Bears at the Hill Field House Tuesday evening at 7:00pm, as both teams look to turn around early season slumps.
 
La Salle Explorers (1-11) at Morgan State Bears (2-7)
Tuesday September 17, 2013 | 7:00 PM | Hill Field House – Baltimore, Md.
 
Scouting the Explorers
The Explorers enter the matchup coming off a tough showing in the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia Invitational, which saw the Blue & Gold drop all three matches. Although the results did not work the Explorers way, the team's play has improved in recent matches. This was clearly exhibited in the Explorers hard fought four-set loss to Temple.
 
Kelly Perillo leads the Explorer attack, registering a team leading 117 kills and 124.5 points on the season. However, Perillo did not play in the tournament finale against American. The Explorers hope to welcome back their leading hitter for the matchup against the Bears. Sophomore hitter Laura Kuhlmeier has stepped up her play in recent matches. She led the Explorers in kills in each of the team's three matches over the weekend, including a 10 kill performance against Weber State in the tournament opener. Her 73 kills rank second on the team through the team's first twelve matches. Elena Lamping and Ashley Felton will look to evenly disperse the production in the middle as well. The combo have accounted for 56 and 53 kills respectively.
 
The strength of the Explorer squad is their setters as Rachel Melich and Michelle Healy are one of the A-10's best tandems. Healy leads the Explorers with 182 assists. She has recently stepped up her hitting as well, notching a strong 8 kills – 12 assist match against Temple on Sunday. Meanwhile, co-captain Rachel Melich has been a steady creator for the Explorers. She scored her first double-double of the season in the Temple match, notching 20 assists and 11 digs.
 
"That was exciting, hopefully the first of many," said the ecstatic Melich at the conclusion of the match.
 
The defense is led at the net front by the blocking tandem of Ashley Felton and Rachel Finkbeiner. Finkbeiner is tied for second on the team with 12 total blocks (12 BA), while freshman standout Felton has far and away the highest mark of any Explorer with 33 total blocks (4 BS – 29 BA).
 
On the back end has been impressive sophomore libero Erin Noga. Noga has registered a team leading 156 digs, while also providing excellent service with a top mark of 11 service aces.
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Scouting the Bears
Morgan State enters the match coming off a weekend that witnessed mixed results. The Bears traveled to the Lehigh Valley to participate in the Lafayette/Lehigh Crosstown Tournament. The team got off to a splendid start, defeating Lehigh in a barnburner of a five-set match. Saturday's double-header did not reap nearly as successful results as they lost a four-set match to Quinnipiac, before getting swept by Lafayette in the tournament capper.
 
The Bears rank near the middle of the MEAC conference in most offensive and defensive categories. The defense in particular is the strength of the Morgan State squad. They rank second in the conference in opponent hitting percentage with a mark of .187. The team is tied for fourth in the MEAC in blocks/set average with 1.82, while they stand alone in fourth with 104 total team blocks. The Bears are also defensively savvy away from the net as they rank fourth in the conference in digs (453), while ranking fifth in digs/set average (13.32).
 
The Morgan State attack is well balanced with three players: Janelle Wilson, Zuri Smith, and Samantha Prescott all notching 40+ kills.
 
The attack is fed through senior setter Ngebui Chafeh. She ranks sixth in the MEAC with 242 assists, while she ranks seventh with a 7.12 assists/set average.
 
The defense is led by junior libero Tamara Leslie. She ranks eighth in the conference with 107 digs, while she ranks tenth with a 3.15 digs/set average.