PHILADELPHIA – The Coppin State volleyball team started the 2014 season with a bang by beating New Jersey Institute of Technology, 3-0, and Loyola, 3-1, on the first day of the La Salle University tournament at Tom Gola Arena.
The talented Eagles are 2-0 for the first time in the 27-year history of the volleyball program. In beating NJIT to start the day by scores of 25-23, 25-20, 25-19, the Eagles accomplished something special. It was the first time that CSU had won a season-opening match in program history. Coppin followed that effort up by beating crosstown rival Loyola, 25-21, 25-19, 24-26, 25-17. The Eagles used a collective team effort to slow down the Greyhounds for the second consecutive year. They got a match-high 20 kills from
Cindy Okpegbue, who also had the same amount in the opening contest against NJIT. Okpegbue also had 19 digs to lead CSU against Loyola.
Averaging 5.71 kills per set for Coppin during the two matches, Okpegbue highlighted an offensive attack that registered 97 kills in the two wins. Coppin State averaged 48.5 kills per match in its sparkling season debut.
Ariel Richard finished with 15 kills for the Eagles against Loyola. Junior setter
Chelsee Sauni concluded her day by collecting 42 assists. That total was the perfect complement to the 38 she registered in the win over NJIT. Sauni accounted for 89.8 percent of the Eagles' 89 overall assists.
Sauni is one of the best setters in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and she had a performance that backed it up. After enjoying 19 matches with at least 30 assists last season, Sauni picked up where she left off by increasing her career total to 1,886 helpers following her combined total of 80 against NJIT and Loyola.
A pair of Eagles also reached nice round numbers during the festive afternoon. A preseason All-MEAC selection, Okpegbue also became the eighth woman in program history to record 500 career kills. She now has 535 in her stellar career.
"We all came in today like we had to get this game because we know we've never won a season-opener before," Okpegbue said following the win over NJIT. "It's definitely nice to be able to accomplish one of our early goals and it feels good."
Meanwhile, Richard, a natural-born killing machine, notched the 900th kill of her magnificent career. Richard is the second CSU volleyball player in program history with at least 900 kills. She has 917 for her career.
In her first collegiate match, freshman
Bailee Jackson was one of three Eagles, who finished with at least 25 digs. Jackson ended the afternoon with 25 digs. Senior
Gabrielle Otero had a team best 32 digs after registering 18 against Loyola. Okpegbue had 25 digs.
Kendra Ireigbe had eight blocks over the two matches.
"I liked our energy level today," Sauni said. "We were very fluid with how we played and I was happy with our passing. I thought that was very good. It's great to win our season opener. It's something we wanted to do and now we just want to continue building from here. We wanted to start off strong, feed off that energy and keep getting stronger."
As a team, the Eagles scored 55.7 percent of their points on kills. Ten different CSU players finished with at least one kill.
They got better as the NJIT match went along. CSU's hitting percentage soared from .191 in the first set to .219 in the second set and then to an astounding .459 in the third set. The Eagles collected 20 of their 47 kills in the decisive third game. Many of those kills occurred after the Highlanders sprinted to a 10-7 advantage in the third game.
Against Loyola, after dropping the third set, the Eagles responded with a strong effort. They finished the match in style by registering 13 of their 43 kills and enjoying a .321 hitting percentage. That was much better than the .024 and .087 hitting percentages in the middle sets against the Greyhounds.
"I was looking for us to pass the ball well and utilize our key hitters today," CSU third-year head coach
Ashley Preston said. "We saw that and our passing picked up during the match. Our key hitters did what they needed to do to help us win this match. Our first goal was to win our first season opener in program history. I feel like the girls took that to heart and executed well. They did a good job."
Coppin State concludes the La Salle tournament by playing the host Explorers at 11 a.m. and Manhattan College at 4:30 p.m.
