BALTIMORE – Perhaps the Coppin State volleyball team should petition to play all of its remaining matches away from campus.
The Lady Eagles have won four straight road matches, including all three MEAC Northern contests. Yet, curiously, Coppin State hasn't found the winning formula at home in the friendly confines in front of the raucous "Turn Up Squad." The Lady Eagles have dropped both home matches this season, both by 3-0 counts to Howard and most recently, Maryland Eastern Shore.
A cynic would argue that both of those of teams have combined for 22 victories and are two of the elite teams in the conference. However, witnesses to both highly-competituve matches would counter by saying that Coppin State is just as good, if not better, than both teams.
Yet, the fact remains, that CSU needs to begin winning at home.
With that as a backdrop, this is a flashlight-to-the-soul weekend for Coppin State if it wants to continue its aspirations of a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular season championship. It hosts Morgan State Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and visits Howard Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
Coppin State sits in fourth place in the MEAC Northern Division standings with a 3-2 mark. Meanwhile, UMES, Morgan State and Howard all have one loss in the conference. A strong weekend will catapult Coppin State into the championship conversation. Calling a city home it shares with the company that made this slogan famous, "We Must Protect This House," Coppin State hasn't done that in 2015.
The Morgan State match begins a stretch in which Coppin State plays four of its next five games at home. The Morgan match also concludes the first half of conference play. Coppin State split with Morgan State last season with each team winning at home. Meanwhile, Coppin State has dropped three straight matches to Howard.
Last weekend, Coppin State's
Cindy Okpegbue was a woman on fire averaging 14 kills and registering a .444 hitting percentage in two matches last weekend. She had 18 kills against UMES to raise her career total to 1,106 and become the second student-athlete in school history with at least 1,100 kills. Okpegbue is third in the MEAC in points per set (3.83) and kills per set (3.38).
Fellow senior
Chelsee Sauni is third in the conference in assists per set (8.78). She leads the Lady Eagles with five double-doubles this season and has registered 30 or more assists seven times this season. For her wonderful career, Sauni has 3,460 assists, most in CSU history. Senior
Kendra Ireigbe, CSU's all-time leader in blocks is second in the MEAC in that category (1.11) and eighth in hitting percentage (.288).
Sophomore Glory Rosado is third in the conference in digs per set (4.22) and eighth in aces per set (0.31). Sophomore
Bailee Jackson had 11 kills against Delaware State last weekend, the third time this season she recorded double-digit kills in a match.
Here's a look at Coppin State's competition this weekend:
MORGAN STATE (7-12, 4-1): The Lady Bears are one of three schools tied for first place with one loss. They defeated Howard but lost to UMES. The balanced Bears are third in the conference in hitting percentage (.163) and fourth in assists (10.13) and kills (11.04). They have been fueled by senior Carmen Fernandez, who is fifth in the MEAC in assists (8.27) and serve aces (0.34). She has also recorded four double-doubles. Arianna Hayden and Keana Browne, who is sixth in the conference in hitting percentage, are the Lady Bears' heavy hitters. In the win over Delaware State, the Lady Bears were led by Hayden, who recorded nine kills. Junior
Minja Rankov posted 14 digs in the match, which was one away from tying Delaware State's total digs in the match. Fernandez recorded a match high 25 assists. The Lady Bears were consistent and aggressive for most of the match and finished with a season high .403 attack percentage.
HOWARD (8-13, 5-1): The Bison have won six of its eight last contests and three straight heading into Thursday night's match against Bethune-Cookman. Howard was the preseason pick to win the MEAC Northern Division. Last weekend, Howard swept Norfolk State and Hampton. In the win over NSU, Howard was powered by sophomore Khalia Donaldson, who had 12-kills and nine digs. She is 74th nationally in kills. Freshman setter
Tamia Dockery finished with a match-high 17 assists to extend her 10+ assists streak to 13 straight matches. Junior libero
Morgan Marlbrough once again set the match pace with 15 digs in the contest and junior setter
Briana Jackson added 11 assists.
