BALTIMORE – While most of America set their clocks back one hour last weekend,
Ariel Richard reversed the hands of time by delivering a vintage performance in her final home match.
Jay-Z may have denounced wearing throwback jerseys in his hit "What More Can I Say" but a retro effort like the one Richard turned in against Maryland Eastern Shore when she posted her 18th career double-double never goes out of style. Her dominant 22-kill, 12-dig performance in Coppin State's 3-2 victory over UMES Sunday was the difference as the Eagles ran their winning streak to a season-high three matches.
The 22 kills were the second most in a match for Richard, who delivered a career-high 27 as a freshman against Lafayette in 2011.
The Eagles will look to use the momentum generated from last weekend's home sweep of Delaware State and UMES to finish the regular season with a bang. At 13-11 overall, Coppin State has assured itself of its first .500 regular season record in program history. The 13 wins are tied for the most regular season triumphs in program history.
The school record of 15 victories was established last year when the Eagles advanced to the MEAC championship match.
With a win in one of its final two road matches against New Jersey Institute of Technology (8-19 overall) on Friday night and Howard (16-9, 9-1 MEAC Northern Division) on Sunday afternoon that will mean that no matter what happens in the MEAC tournament, Coppin State will finish the season with its first winning record in program history.
In addition, with another win, third-year head coach
Ashley Preston will reach 40 career coaching victories. Consider that between 1994-2011 Coppin State won a total of 49 matches. Let that sink in.
Coppin State opened its season with a 3-0 victory over NJIT on August 29 at La Salle. The Eagles have won two straight matches against the Highlanders dating back to last season. Meanwhile, Howard has its sights on sharing the MEAC regular season crown after knocking off Hampton, 3-2, last Sunday. The Bison defeated Coppin State, 3-1, in the Auxiliary Gym on October 12.
However, under Preston, the money month of November has belonged to Coppin State especially recently. Over the last two years, the Eagles are 8-1 in November. The focus gets sharper, the passing gets crisper and the communication gets stronger.
It seems like every match, another Eagle is taking their turn establishing a program record. The latest "Record-Setter of the Week" will most likely be junior
Chelsee Sauni, who needs 29 assists to set the Coppin State single-season mark in that category for the second straight season. Sauni set the record last year with 1,045 assists. Overall, in her phenomenal career, Sauni has 2,830 assists.
Playing in Newark with the shadow of The Statue of Liberty in the background, the Eagles look to stand tall against an NJIT team that will be celebrating "Senior Night."
This is the second of a four-match homestand for NJIT. The top hitters for the Highlanders are Fran Edmondson (244 kills) and Danica Vukotic (217). In the season-opening win against NJIT, the Eagles limited Edmondson and Vukotic to 13 harmless kills between them. Meanwhile, Coppin State's
Cindy Okpegbue recorded a match-high 20 kills against NJIT.
Heading into its Friday night match against Morgan State, Howard has won seven straight matches. In order to cool off Howard, the Eagles know that finding a way to neutralize Asata Conway and Khalia Donaldson. Howard also finished with 18 blocks against Coppin State in the first meeting.
In their first win over Hampton since 2008, three Lady Bison players posted at least 13 kills, led by sophomore middle blocker
Whitney Fields' 17-kill performance. Donaldson's 14 kills gave her double digits in 10 straight games and her 13 digs gave her a team-leading ninth double-double. Conway had the most efficient hitting match of the trio, posting a .444 percentage (13 kills, 1 error, 27 attempts) while senior setter
Stephanie Shultis assisted on a season-high 54 points and sophomore outside hitter
Katherine Broussard dug out a match-high and season-best 21 attacks.
Following its match against Howard, Coppin State will not return to the court until the MEAC quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 21 against an opponent to be determined. Coppin State will host the MEAC tournament. Stay tuned to
www.coppinstatesports.com for addition information regarding the MEAC tournament.
