BALTIMORE – After spending lots of quality time away from campus to begin its 2014 season, the Coppin State volleyball team was delighted to enjoy the comforts of home.
Playing in the friendly confines for the first time this season, Coppin State treated its faithful supporters to a 3-1 victory over Norfolk State in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) match Sunday afternoon in the Auxiliary Gym that felt more like the inside of an E-Z Bake oven.
In extending their home match winning streak to eight, the Eagles won the match 25-12, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17. Coppin State improved its overall record to 7-8 and conference mark to 1-1. Norfolk State dropped to 0-14 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Coppin State has also won seven straight home matches against MEAC opponents.
"It's great to have our fans' energy," senior libero
Gabrielle Otero said. "When we're down, our fans pick us up. It reminds us that we have people to play for. It's not about us. It's about a bigger picture for us."
It was also a celebratory afternoon for the Eagles as junior
Chelsee Sauni and senior
Ariel Richard were honored between the second and third matches for achieving significant milestones. Sauni was feted for her 2,000th career assist and Richard was recognized for her 1,000th career kill. Each student-athlete was the second in Coppin volleyball history to reach those distinguished plateaus in their respective categories.
They each continued their assault on the all-time leaders during the match. Sauni handed out 42 assists to raise her career total to 2,405. Sauni moved to within 93 assists of surpassing Krystal Williams' program standard of 2,495, which was set in 2005.
Richard had 10 kills to up her career total to 1,075, five shy of passing Brittany Arvin's mark of 1,079, which was established in 2008. Richard also enjoyed a .389 hitting percentage for the Eagles.
The kills leader for the Eagles was
Cindy Okpegbue, who had a match-high 20 along with 11 digs for her second double-double of the season. It was the seventh time in her career, Okpegbue finished with at least 20 kills in a match.
Maya Horner and
Kandace Thomas also collected seven kills each for the Eagles. As a team, Coppin State had 49 kills, the third time in its last four matches, its collected at least 40 as a team.
Otero had a match-high 17 digs while
Kendra Ireigbe added five blocks.
After dropping the third set to the Spartans, Coppin State opened the fourth set on fire by scoring the first five points. Though the Spartans kept fighting back, Coppin State's edge never dropped below three points. Richard took charge in the fourth set with six kills. Sauni assisted on 14 of Coppin State's 15 kills in the fourth set. Otero had nine of her digs in the decisive set for the Eagles.
"Our passing better and we worked better as a unit today," Otero said. "We worked on not getting upset over a single mistake and making every single play better than the previous one. We did really well today working as a unit."
Leading Norfolk State was Janay Frazier (seven kills), Darcy Moore (assists) and Noelle Eagles (10 digs).
Coppin State returns to action Friday night when it hosts Hampton in a MEAC championship rematch at 7:00 p.m.
NOTES: Coppin State observed a moment of silence for the victims of the North Central Texas College softball team that was involved in Friday's tragic accident in Oklahoma in which four student-athletes were killed.
