Women's Volleyball | 10/7/2015 9:52:00 AM
BALTIMORE – Despite its setback to Howard on Sunday, the Coppin State volleyball team is still sitting comfortably in the Catbird Seat of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Northern Division.
While Sunday's effort in the 3-0 defeat wasn't one of the Lady Eagles better performances of the 2015 season under first-year head coach
Kyetta May, Coppin State is still in perfect position to accomplish all of it goals. The simple math reveals that if Coppin State wins the rest of its matches, it will be ordering a regular season championship banner for the Physical Education Complex and earn the No. 1 seed at next month's MEAC Tournament in Princess Anne.
Coppin State has nine MEAC Northern Division matches remaining beginning this weekend with a rare regular season back-to-back set on the road against Delaware State (Friday night at 6:00 p.m.) and home against Maryland Eastern Shore (Saturday, 3:00 p.m.).
The Lady Eagles are eager to return to the court against their Route 13 rivals in which they went 4-0 against last season. Both of the matches against UMES were decided in five sets. Of course, that means nothing as the weekend beckons for the Lady Eagles. This will be Delaware State's first home match of the season and its first competition since September 27.
Throughout the season, Coppin State has been led by the brilliance of seniors
Cindy Okpegbue,
Kendra Ireigbe and
Chelsee Sauni as well as sophomore Glory Rosado. Senior
Denali Sturgeon, juniors
Jasmine Burton,
Ellena Torres and sophomore
Bailee Jackson along with freshmen
Samantha Polk,
Megan Lim,
Marlena Guice and
Alexa Williams have all enjoyed strong moments this season for the Lady Eagles, who are looking forward to the challenging weekend.
"We have to come to practice work hard and refocus," Jackson said. "We understand that this is a big weekend for us. We know what we need to do and we have all the skills, it's just a matter of us putting everything together. We talked about how good we are as a team and how we can win the rest of our matches if we put our minds to it and play like we know how. We're going to keep pushing hard to reach our goals."
Sauni is third in the MEAC in assists per set (8.55). Ireigbe is second in blocks (1.11) and fourth in hitting percentage (.288). Okpegbue, who needs two kills to pass Brittany Arvin and move into second place on Coppin State's all-time kill list, is fifth in kills (3.22) and points per set (3.67). Rosado is second in the conference in digs (4.43).
Here's a brief look at the weekend competition:
DELAWARE STATE (2-13, 0-1): Delaware State has dropped eight consecutive matches since its last victory, a 3-1 triumph over Quinnipiac on September 5. Leading the Lady Hornets has been Jasmine Jackson, who is sixth in the MEAC in kills per set (3.12) and eighth in points per set (3.42). Janessa Helu is sixth in blocks per set (0.90) and Alliyah McBean is fourth in digs per set (3.88). Coppin State hosts Delaware State on Friday, October 30.
MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE (12-3, 1-1): The Hawks sprinted to a 10-0 start, their best in school history. The Hawks lead the MEAC in hitting percentage (.209), opponents hitting percentage (.152), service aces (2.02), digs (15.12), kills (12.26) and assists (11.34). UMES is second nationally in service aces and 22nd in hitting percentage. The Hawks have been fueled by a number of contributors during their beginning to the season. Petra Jerabkova leads the MEAC in assists per set (9.08). Lucia Babic is second in hitting percentage (.297) and 10th in kills (2.90). Zuzana Ondruskova is second in points per set (3.85), third in kills (3.32) and fourth in aces (0.34). Andjela Reljic leads the conference in digs (5.08) and is third in service aces (0.36).
Following this weekend's action, Coppin State hosts Morgan State on Friday, October 16 at 7:00 p.m.
