BALTIMORE --- The Coppin State volleyball team enters the 2014 season with an insatiable hunger.
It's been a 24-hour, 12-month craving that no amount of lobster, shrimp, crab cakes, burgers, salads, steaks, chicken, pasta, pizza, chocolate, bacon or anything from Chipotle could satisfy.
For the 11 returning members of the Eagles volleyball team, the only thing that will fill them up and stop the stomach rumblings will be the succulent aroma of winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship on its
home floor
in November.
The theme of Coppin State's season is "Relentless Pursuit."
Since falling to Hampton, 3-2, in a heartbreaking 2013 MEAC title match, the Eagles have their eyes on the prize. All of the off-season weight-lifting gatherings, preseason conditioning sessions and personal enhancements have all been geared to finishing this season in a happier mode, draped by a championship banner while fans furiously snap photos and showered in blue-and-gold confetti.
"It's never going to away," returning second-team All-MEAC junior middle blocker
Kandace Thomas said. "We all still feel that day like it was yesterday. I don't think anybody ever wants to relive that day. So that's why with every practice, everything we do is pushing us to keep going, so that this year we won't have to feel like that. Practice has been good so far. We've really been working hard and on a lot of things we believe will get us to the championship."
Coppin State (0-0 overall) starts its most anticipated season in recent history Friday morning against NJIT and Loyola (Md) in the La Salle tournament at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia. The Eagles meet NJIT at 10 a.m. and Loyola at 4 p.m. Coppin State defeated both teams last season as part of its school record 15-win campaign. The Eagles will battle host La Salle at 11:30 a.m. and Manhattan at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Coppin State volleyball coach
Ashley Preston enters her third season with an experienced and talented roster that's focused on building off of last season's successful run through the MEAC tournament. The Eagles gained valuable experience last season with their memorable postseason run that included their first win over Florida A&M in
program history.
Overall, Coppin State returns its core group of talented starters featuring All-MEAC volleyball performers: senior setter
Gabrielle Otero (first team), and junior outside hitter
Cindy Okpegbue (third team). Otero is Coppin State's all-time leader in digs with 1,209. She set the Coppin State single season record for digs with 465, while averaging 4.43 digs per set.
Thomas was second on the team with 69 blocks and third with 241 kills. She averaged 2.60 points, 2.17 kills, 0.62 blocks and 0.52 digs per set. She had seven matches in which she finished with double digit kills, including a season high 18 against Morgan State in which she had a .750 hitting percentage.
Meanwhile, Okpegbue was named to the All-MEAC tournament team following a three-match stretch in which she finished with an amazing 71 kills during the three matches. She averaged 3.21 kills and 3.37 points per set.
Slamming balls across the net with the same velocity as a Mo'ne Davis fastball, Okpegbue led the Eagles with 334 kills and had a .224 hitting percentage. She had a career best 30 kills against Florida A&M in the MEAC semifinals. She was named a preseason all-conference selection earlier this month.
The returning talent for the Eagles doesn't end there.
Senior outside hitter
Ariel Richard, junior middle blocker
Kendra Ireigbe, junior outside hitter
Denali Sturgeon, sophomore outside hitter
Nicole Malave and junior setter
Chelsee Sauni all played in every match and each made meaningful contributions to the Eagles' success.
Richard was second on the Eagles with 250 kills and a .153 hitting percentage. Richard averaged 2.53 kills, 2.84 points and 1.33 digs per set. She had 11 matches in which she finished with at least 10 kills, including a season-high 18 against Hampton.
Entering this season, Richard needs 107 kills to become the second woman in
program history to record 1,000 for her career. Ireigbe led the Eagles with 80 blocks. She averaged 1.50 kills, 1.91 points and 0.73 blocks per set. She had a season-high six blocks against Florida A&M in the MEAC semifinal. She was also one of seven Eagles to finish with at least 100 kills.
Sturgeon finished with 161 kills, which was fifth on the team, last season. Malave recorded 101 kills and was second on the team with 210 digs. She also led the Eagles with 31 service aces. Overall, she averaged 2.04 digs, 1.32 points, 0.98 kills and 0.30 service aces per set. Sauni dropped more dimes than a bank teller last season in leading the Eagles with 1,045 assists. She also finished with 167 digs, 40 kills, 36 blocks, and 13 service aces. She enters the season with 1,806 career assists, which is second all-time in program history.
Other key returnees for Coppin State include sophomore libero
Jasmine Burton, sophomore outside hitter
Morgan Haynes and sophomore setter
Ellena Torres. Freshmen outside hitters
Bailee Jackson and
Maya Horner are expected to bolster the Eagles' depth. Jackson played at Ames (Iowa) High School and Horner played at Columbia Central (TN) High School.
"I think the key for us is staying healthy and everybody being able to play," Thomas said. "We have to stay focused as a team and keep moving toward to our goal of winning the championship. We can't get sidetracked and no matter what happens during the season or a match, we have to keep pushing forward."
