Women's Volleyball | 8/26/2015 8:28:00 AM
BALTIMORE – Like rapper Drake, the Coppin State volleyball team will go from "0 to 100" when it meets Manhattan at Towson University's SECU Arena Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in its 2015 season opener. Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for ages 2-12 and 65 and above.
Forget being in chill mode, the Lady Eagles are hyped to begin the
Kyetta May era and start what they believe will be a special season.
The first-year head coach arrived from Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Even though she's a veteran coach with a pair of championship rings, May was asked what her emotions were like prior to coaching her first match at Coppin State.
"I don't have butterflies," May said. "There's probably more of an eagerness to see the team come together and compete at a high level against another opponent. I am more eager than nervous."
This is a matchup of teams that advanced to the semifinals of their respective conference postseason tournaments last season. The Eagles and Jaspers also met in a classic five-set thriller last season on the second day of the La Salle University tournament. Manhattan rallied from a two-set deficit to post a 3-2 victory.
Coppin State will play three matches over the next three days of the Towson University Invitational. It will meet Tennessee Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. and host Towson Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. The Eagles finished with 14 victories last season and have won 29 matches over the last two years.
Both Coppin State and Manhattan also earned plenty of respect in their respective conference preseason polls. The Eagles were picked to finish second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Manhattan was picked to finish in a tie for second in the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference.
In last season's contest against Manhattan, senior setter
Chelsee Sauni had 45 assists, which were two more than the entire Jasper squad. Senior
Cindy Okpegbue had 14 kills and sophomore
Bailee Jackson led the Eagles with 22 digs.
Sauni and Okpegbue were named to the MEAC preseason volleyball team.
In finishing with a team-leading 418 kills, Okpegbue averaged 3.77 per set, which was third in the MEAC. She was also fourth in points per set (4.08). Okpegbue ranked among the top 100 nationally in points per set (100th), kills per set (74th) and total kills (90th). She had double-digit kills in 22 matches, including eight with 20 or more kills. She averaged 0.94 digs per set and finished with a .225 hitting percentage.
Sauni was a third-team all-MEAC selection after leading the Eagles in 2014 with a CSU single-season record of 1,164 assists. She was named to the Towson all-tournament team and all-MEAC Academic Team. She averaged 10.30 assists per set, which was second in the MEAC. Sauni was 84th nationally in total assists and enters the season with 2,977 career assists.
Coppin State returns seven players from last season's squad including seniors
Denali Sturgeon and
Kendra Ireigbe along with juniors
Ellena Torres and
Jasmine Burton. Newcomers to the team include Glory Rosado,
Marlena Guice,
Megan Lim,
Alexa Williams and
Samantha Polk.
Here's a look at the Eagles opening weekend competition:
MANHATTAN (Friday, August 28; 2:30 p.m.): Senior outside hitter Claire Van Dyk and junior libero Allie Yamashiro were selected to the 2015 Preseason All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) team. Van Dyk finished second on the squad in kills (373) and kills per set (2.85) while ranking third in digs (401) and digs pert set (3.06) last season. She also placed fourth in the league with 40 service aces. Van Dyk was named to the 2014 MAAC All-Tournament Team. Last season, Yamashiro set a program record with 656 digs. That total led the MAAC and was good for 12th in the NCAA. As a team, Manhattan ranked third nationally in digs (2,351) and sixth in digs per set (17.95) last season. Yamashiro also placed third in the league in digs per set (5.01) and second in aces (47) in 2014. Manhattan finished with a 21-13 overall record, including 13-5 in conference play.
TENNESSEE (Saturday, August 29; 10:00 a.m.): Tennessee returns 10 players from its 2014 squad, including seniors Lexi Dempsey and Megan Hatcher. Sophomore Kendra Turner, the team's leader in total kills (222) and kills per set (2.67), also returns alongside seven newcomers. Tennessee was picked to finish 13th in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
TOWSON (Sunday, August 30; 3:00 p.m.): Towson will be led by senior middle blocker/outside hitter Haley Pa'akaula, redshirt junior middle blocker Candace Steadman and senior setter Aimee Schubert this season. Pa'akaula was named to the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Preseason Team. In addition the Tigers, who finished the 2014 season with a 27-5 record and advanced to the CAA Tournament, were picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll. Pa'akaula finished third on the team with 334 kills and was eighth in the CAA in kills per set (31.5) and fifth in service aces per set (0.28). Schubert led the team with 730 assists and ranked fifth in the CAA in assists per game (6.52). Steadman had the seventh best hitting percentage in the CAA (.281). She finished the season with 188 kills and was one of five Tigers to record 100 or more kills.
Coppin State is on the road next weekend when it travels to Texas to compete in the Hampton Inn Waco North/Baylor Invitational where it will meet Cal-Poly, Baylor and Sam Houston State.
