Eagles Stun Hawks in MEAC Battle of the Birds, 3-2

 
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – Coppin volleyball stole a huge MEAC North showdown from Maryland Eastern Shore with a five-set victory. CSU rose to above .500 in the conference and goes into the regular season finale, winners of its past three contests.
 
The Basics

• Final Score: Coppin State 3, Maryland Eastern Shore 2
• Records: Coppin State 11-19 (5-4 MEAC) / Maryland Eastern Shore 9-15 (6-3 MEAC)
• Location: Princess Anne, MD – Hytche Athletic Center
• Series History: Maryland Eastern Shore Leads 56-16

How It Happened

1st Set

• Miajavon Coleman slammed home the opening point, with an attack error by the Hawks giving Coppin an early 2-0 advantage.
• Back-to-back service aces by Kolibar capped a 4-0 run, to give CSU an 8-3 five-point edge.
• A Christa Johnson and Asia Stennis block assist forced UMES into burning an early timeout, as Eastern Shore trailed 10-4.
• The Hawks and Eagles played to a stalemate over the next eight points, 14-8.
• A 6-1 onslaught by The Shore brought the maroon and gray to within one, forcing Tim Walsh to call a timeout, 15-14.
• A strike from Eastern Shore's Lucia Babic evened the playing field at 17 before pulling ahead for good on a Sola Okesanjo kill to win the first set, 25-22.

 
2nd Set

• Two Stennis aces put a bow on a 5-0 rally to get Coppin up 7-3.
• Powered by a service ace from Libero Koya Sowells, UMES trimmed the deficit to 8-6.
• An ace courtesy of Aislynn Weaver pushed the lead back to four, 15-11.
• Walsh looked to stunt any momentum before it began, calling for time after a 3-0 Hawks run cut the lead to two once again, 16-14.
• The timeout was unsuccessful in slowing the Hawks' roll, with UMES taking the upper-hand off a block assist from Lidia Chery and Rachel Kayongo, 20-19.
• Coppin would fight back to knot it up at 24, thwarting two Shore set points, on back-to-back blows by Jordan Celestine.
• Two straight Eagle kills by Celestine and Coleman evened the match, swinging all the momentum to the road side going into the extended break, 26-24.

 
3rd Set

• Consecutive attack errors on the part of The Shore caused a timeout for the girls in maroon to build Coppin's advantage to 9-4.
• CSU's lead ballooned as high as ten, as the Eagles put the set on cruise control en route to a 16-6 margin.
• Three points from the Hawks, had Walsh signal timeout with the score 16-9.
• Celestine made a statement with three more thunderous slams, as CSU refused to give UMES life in a blowout 25-13 third set rout.

 
4th Set

• With an even score of five all, Coppin forced three UMES errors to get the Hawks to relinquish a timeout, 8-5.
• An ace by The Shore's Cristen Coryatt clawed the Hawks back to 10-10, and two Eagles errors added two unforced points to Eastern Shore's total, 12-10.
• Mistakes cost Walsh's bunch yet again, as he called a timeout to stop the bleeding, 15-12.
• UMES continued to roll along, using a 4-1 surge to have Coppin State call timeout to try and keep the set from slipping away.
• The Hawks returned the favor with landslide victory of its own, coming out on top 25-17 and forcing a nail-biting conclusion.

5th Set

• Four straight Coppin State errors staked The Shore a 5-2 advantage.
• Three points from both sides sent the match into the switch with Eastern Shore clinging to an 8-5 lead.
• A sneak attack kill from Brianna Lang cut the deficit to one, 8-7.
• Stennis split the blockers to bring it to 11-11, before a Hawk attack error gave CSU the edge, 12-11.
• Both teams got to 15, but a tie score sent the match into volleyball "overtime".
• A solo block by Lauryn Harrell put Coppin on the brink of victory, before a finishing blow by Coleman gave the Eagles a heart-stopping, 18-16 win.

 
Inside the Numbers

• Celestine went on a heck of kill streak, setting a season-high before the third set concluded, settling on 13 kills as her new benchmark, while hitting .500 from the court.
• Coleman tied Celestine for the team lead in kills, garnering a double-digit total for the 16th time in the team's last 19 appearance.
• Kolibar extended her digging hot streak to seven of nine, pacing the Lady Eagles with 14 digs on the night.
• With 11 victories in 2018, Coppin State has its most wins in a season since the 2014 campaign (14) and joins the 2012, 2013, and 2014 teams with double-digit wins in the program's 29-year existence.
• CSU has reached double-digit wins despite being the youngest team in the NCAA this season, with 11 freshmen, one sophomore, two juniors and one senior.
• The Eagles have clinched a spot in the MEAC Tournament, which will be held inside Burr Gymnasium on the campus of Howard University. The first round begins on Friday November 16 and will conclude with the championship game at 8 p.m. on Sunday November 18.
• Miajavon Coleman is making the most of her Coppin debut season, as she has 381 kills which currently places her fourth in school history for a single season.
• Coleman is on pace to have one of the best offensive campaigns in program history as she is currently on track to finish inside the top-five for kills per set, total points, and attack attempts to go along with total kills.
• Coleman is not the only taking aim at the CSU record books, Brianna Lang is third in most assists in a single season with (949), had a single-game Coppin State record 64 assists against North Carolina Central and she has already broken the record for most assists as a freshman.
• Lang can claim a first in Eagles volleyball history to accumulate 900 assists and 200 digs in an individual season.
• Right side hitter Christa Johnson moved into the top-three in blocks for a season during Friday's match, as she accumulated 4 blocks on the evening to give her 84 blocks. Johnson put her stamp in the Coppin career record books as well, jumping to third all-time for Lady Eagle volleyball players in all-time blocks with 189 overall.
• Asia Stennis is 7th all-time amongst Eagles players with 651 kills in her career.
• Freshman Libero Chelsie Kolibar rounds out the CSU historical group, as she has racked up the ninth highest dig total in single-season history as she currently sits at 307 after the UMES contest.
• Babic and Kayongo paced the Hawks in kills with 13 and 11, respectively, while Sowells was the top player in digs on the night with 11.

Who's Next?

• Walsh's crew takes a three-game winning streak into Dover to finish off the regular season versus the Delaware State Hornets on Sunday afternoon. First serve will be at 3 p.m. inside Memorial Hall.