BALTIMORE – Coppin State volleyball coach
Ashley Preston and senior middle blocker
Kandace Thomas fought back tears as they described the past, present and future of the Eagles' program during the postgame press conference following their season-ending 3-1 setback to reigning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion Hampton in a semifinal match Saturday afternoon at the Physical Education Complex.
The Lady Pirates advanced to Sunday's championship match where they will meet Howard by winning 25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 25-19.
The Eagles got a team-high 15 kills and six blocks from Thomas along with a match-high 23 digs from
Gabrielle Otero.
Chelsee Sauni dished a match-high 32 assists.
Cindy Okpegbue tallied nine kills and three digs.
Ariel Richard added seven kills.
Maya Horner (six) and
Kendra Ireigbe (five) combined for 11 kills.
Coppin State (14-14) finished the season at .500 or better for the first time in the 27-year history of the volleyball program.
"We're still building tradition here," Preston said. "It hurts me more to see these seniors not get it because they fought really hard. It's hard to create a culture and create something here at Coppin State when it was nothing before they got here. I am so proud of what they've accomplished here at Coppin State."
Even though this was the final match for Thomas and her fellow seniors
Gabrielle Otero,
Ariel Richard and Nicole Malvae-Adams, the Eagles' program is just getting started. Building to a championship is a process and sometimes in order to become the queens of the mountain; a team sometimes endures years of heartbreaking defeats.
Case in point, it took Julius Erving six years and three NBA Finals defeats to win his first ring in the early 80s. It took LeBron James some time to win his first title. So while everybody wants a championship now, it is the hardest thing to achieve even if it was a Coppin State that returned everybody this season from last year's title-game loss.
What the Eagles have done under Preston and this senior class is laid a foundation of success while raising the expectations of excellence during their careers. Coppin State has motivated and talented players returning along with a strong recruiting class that will keep the Eagles as one of the elite programs in the conference.
"In the future, they are perfectly capable of winning the championship," Thomas said. "We just didn't have all of the tools we needed this year. We didn't have enough hitters or scoring. I think Coppin State is really going to do well and I don't think there will be any more tears of sadness. They'll be cheering and jumping because they won a championship."
MEAC Player of the Year Vendula Strakova was responsible for ending the Eagles' season. Strakova was tough throughout the match as she notched her 19th double-double this season with 35 kills and 14 digs while hitting a match high .508. She had 10 kills in the third set and 12 in the final set to help Hampton (20-10) return to the title match. She had 10 fewer kills than Coppin State had as a team.
Also registering a double-double for Hampton was Krista Kraskura (12 kills, 17 digs). Leading Hampton on defense was Allysa Medina, who had 18 digs.
"Overall, I knew it was going to be a tough match," Preston said. "Hampton is a great team with a great player," Preston said. "Vendula is phenomenal at what she does. When she gets the ball, you know it's going to be a kill. We're still trying to find that leader for us that's going to score when we need it to happen."
Once the tears subside, the Eagles special senior class will smile knowing they laid a solid foundation so that future generations of Coppin State volleyball student-athletes will win multiple championships in the future. In addition, they also depart with their names at the top of the Coppin State record books. Thomas (hitting percentage), Otero (digs) and Richard (kills and points) will leave with school records along with a degree.
"I'm still not over this year," Preston said. "I love these girls. I still believe that we have the best team in the MEAC. It's just that we fell just short. It's kind of tough for us right now. We are going to continue to build a team, legacy and culture. Because we are good, we have made the MEAC North good. There are no teams that are lacking in North and I am proud of being part of that. I am excited about next year, but I am going to miss these seniors with all my heart."
