Box Score Baltimore, MD. -- Sometimes in the game of volleyball, how you start in games determine the outcome of a match.
Unfortunately for the Coppin State Lady Eagles, they came out flat more often than they needed to in their heartbreaking 3-2 (25-17, 19-25, 25-27, 25-16, 15-11) loss to the Hampton Pirates this afternoon at the Physical Education Complex.
The Hampton Pirates did what they needed to do behind the strong hitting of Vendula Strakova, who led all hitters with 25 kills in the match along with Krista Kraskura, who followed with a double-double of 12 kills and 13 digs.
But the tough starts hurt the Lady Eagles dearly. "Our starts were a little off, said Coppin State head coach
Ashley Preston after the match. "I feel like the first set, we just started flat. Whereas the second and third games, we picked it up. I had to make some adjustments in the front row because they were targeting
Ariel Richard which I figured they would do. Once we get going, we get going. All we need is a pass. If we pass well, we're going to play well."
Hampton (19-10) served pretty well in the match, recording 13 service aces in the match compared to four for Coppin State (15-16), who saw their eight game overall and 10-game home winning streaks come to a halt.
The Lady Eagles showed some serious heart in the third game. They were down 24-20 with four game points staring at the young ladies. Sophomore outside hitter
Cindy Okpegbue, who led all Coppin hitters with 24 kills, smashed one down to start off the comeback. Then a ball handling error from Bibiany Fonseca and a Petra Parros kill attempt that went wide cut the deficit to 24-23.
Kandace Thomas pounded a ball on the floor to tie the game at 24, sending the Coppin supporters into a tizzy. Next, Strakova smashed a kill to give the Pirates their fifth game point opportunity. Then a kill from
Denali Sturgeon tied the game at 25. Lastly, Hampton's Sonja Maksimovic was double blocked twice. The first came from
Marissa Freeman and
Chelsee Sauni and the last from Sauni and Sturgeon won the third game, sending the Coppin faithful into delirium.
Preston said about the third set, "I really want to give that third set to my freshmen. I threw some freshmen out there that haven't touched the floor in the first or second round and threw them in the championship game and they really rose to the occasion. I told Marissa to give me a block and she gave me what I asked her to do and that's all I can really ask for."
Cindy added, "We knew what we needed to do. We were really trying to fight because we really, really wanted this. So we knew we had to take a second set of them. So we just went in there and said we couldn't give up and we basically did what we needed to do to win that game."
But the tough starts for Coppin were too much for them to overcome. Hampton scored five of the first six points of the fourth game. Stretched the advantage to 11-3 and led by as much as 11 at 19-8 on a Richard attack error. Coppin mounted a small run, but only got as close as 22-16 before Hampton put the Lady Eagles away.
In the fifth and last game, Hampton scored the first five points of the frame. That was led by a couple of Strakova kills and a couple of Coppin State ball handling errors. Coppin fought back to within 9-6 on a kill from Sturgeon.
But Hampton stretched the advantage to 14-9 on a double block of Sturgeon by Strakova and Marija Kocevska. But Coppin fought off a couple of match points on a Sauni block of Maksimovic followed by a shot for Sonja, which went high to cut the deficit to 14-11.
Then Strakova ended the match with a kill to the left side of the court, clinching Hampton's first ever MEAC Volleyball title.
Going into the off-season right now, Preston said, "Unfinished business will be our motto (for next season). I wanted them to be hungry. So now they know what it feels like to be hungry. To be so close and not attain it. Honestly, nothing should stop us from being right back here where we need to be."
Okpegbue added, "We know what it feels like to end the season like this. We're never going to feel this feeling again. We're winning the championship next year."
