PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Coppin State volleyball team is headed to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's (MEAC) postseason party for the fourth consecutive year despite a 3-1 setback to Maryland Eastern Shore at the William P. Hytche Center Sunday afternoon in an entertaining match.
That bit of news could do little to soothe the ache of the tough 16-25, 25-21, 23-25, 22-25 loss to the Hawks.
Coppin State (9-13 overall, 6-5 MEAC) will enter the MEAC Tournament, which begins on Friday Nov. 20 at UMES most likely as the Northern Division's fourth seed and will meet Bethune-Cookman, who won the Southern Division regular season championship for the first time in school history in a quarterfinal match at 4:00 p.m. Coppin State's spot in the playoffs was secured when Hampton lost to Howard giving the Lady Pirates seven conference losses.
It will be the third straight season CSU and BCU will meet in a MEAC Tournament quarterfinal match. The MEAC will make it official in the near future.
However, anybody with the slightest bit of mathematical acumen will see that Coppin State has at least five conference losses and that the Lady Eagles can't finish ahead of Howard and Morgan State in the standings. UMES, which has two matches left against Norfolk State and one against Delaware State, will need to win of those contests to make CSU the fourth seed officially.
It doesn't matter because the Lady Eagles are capable of beating anybody and winning three consecutive matches especially if senior
Cindy Okpegbue plays like she played against UMES. She was special, sizzling, scintillating and sensational. Or in the words of a fan sitting in the stands, "a one-woman gang."
Okpegbue finished with a season-high 27 kills, the fourth time in her career with at least 25 kills in a single match. It's the second most in a match for her behind the 30 kills she had against Florida A&M in the 2013 MEAC semifinals.
She has collected 20 or more kills in a match 14 times in her career. It's also the 58th time that Okpegbue has recorded double-digit kills in a career and 16th time this season. For good measure, Okpegbue also had nine digs.
Chelsee Sauni, who leads the MEAC in assists per set, recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 47 assists and 15 digs.
Denali Sturgeon finished with 13 kills and a .440 hitting percentage for Coppin State. It was the second time in three matches that Sturgeon finished with double digit kills. Sophomore Glory Rosado added 15 digs.
Sophomore
Bailee Jackson just missed a double-double with nine kills and 10 digs.
Coppin State displayed plenty of heart and toughness in giving UMES everything it wanted and then some. The Lady Eagles trailed 16-10 in the fourth set but battled to take a late 19-18 advantage. Coppin State also led 23-21 in the third set. Yet, when the Lady Eagles return back over the Bay Bridge later this month, they will arrive as a confident squad knowing they can win the tournament.
In improving its record to 18-6 overall and 6-3 in the conference, UMES got 19 kills and 14 digs from Zuzana Ondruskova and 18 kills from Lucia Babic. Marta Klafuric had six blocks for UMES, which won both matches this season against Coppin State.
Coppin State will conclude its regular season when it visits rival Morgan State next Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. The Lady Eagles defeated Morgan State, 3-2, on Oct. 16 in a classic at home.
