DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Everything is different when Bethune-Cookman opens Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play Friday against Howard at 6 p.m. in Historic Moore Gym.

First all, the match is NOT in Washington, D.C., site of all the recent meetings, including the MEAC tournament.

Second, while those regular season meetings in the nation's capital were good indications and tests of how the teams shaped up for the MEAC tournament, they didn't count in the league standings. This one will. The conference has reformatted the schedule so everyone plays everyone.

BCU took the four-time defending champion Bison (3-11) to five sets in last year's regular season match and fell in three sets when the teams met in the conference tournament semifinals.

Jurnee Tipton leads the Bison with 134 kills, while MEAC Tournament MVP Kira Porter has 89 kills and is hitting a league-best .374.

For BCU, junior Jordan Jefferson has the team highs with 98 kills and 148 digs. Freshman Bailey Robinson has 67 kills while junior Faith Landreneaux has 60 kills and team bests in hitting percentage (.329) and blocks (35).

BCU will host Norfolk State Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.