Service Game Dooms Volleyball in Five Set Loss to Howard

Post Game Interviews
@AllFactsMedia with head coach Tim Walsh
@AllFactsMedia with freshman Paola Caten

BALTIMORE – Despite a season-high 20 kills from Paola Caten, the Eagles volleyball team fell to MEAC-leading Howard, 3-2 (21-25, 26-24, 27-25, 22-25, 15-12) on Sunday afternoon at PEC Arena.
 
The Basics
Final Scores: Coppin State 2, Howard 3
Records: Coppin State (11-15, 7-5 MEAC), Howard (13-12, 9-1 MEAC)
Location: Baltimore, Md. (PEC Arena)
 
First Set

• Brianna Lang finished with 17 assists in the first set that Coppin won, 25-21.  Paola Caten recorded six kills while Miajavon Coleman added five without committing an error.
• Ashley Roman came up big defensively with eight digs as Coppin outhit Howard, .400 to .286.
• There were nine ties and seven lead changes in the set as CSU went on a 3-0 run to take a 18-15 lead.
• Howard battled back to 18-17, but three-straight kills by Caten increased the advantage to 22-17.
• The Bison forced a timeout at 22-19 before kills from Caten, Jordan Celestine and Coleman sealed the win.

 
Second Set

• CSU outhit Howard, .235 to .194 but the Eagles committed seven service errors and fell, 26-24, in a frame that saw 11 ties and three lead changes.
• Paola Caten hit .308 for the set with four kills and no errors while Jordan Celestine recorded three blocks.
• The Eagles battled back from a 21-16 deficit to tie the score at 23-23 and force a timeout as Miajavon Coleman recorded a pair of kills and two aces during the stretch.
• The teams traded kills after the break, but Howard evened it up with a CSU error and a bad set off a serve.

 
Third Set

• Six more service errors plagued Coppin in the third which went to the visitors, 27-25, after 19 ties and six lead changes.
• Paola Caten had a team-high four kills while Miajavon Coleman and Salma Gonzalez added three more.  Gonzalez and Christa Johnson also chipped in with a pair of blocks.
• With Howard leading, 23-20, the largest advantage of the set, Coppin scored three-straight with kills from Caten and Gonzalez to tie it up and force a Howard timeout.
• After ties at 24 and 25, Howard won it with a kill and a block.

 
Fourth Set

• Coppin controlled the fourth for most of the set to even the match at two sets apiece with a 25-22 victory.
• With the score tied at 10-10, the Eagles went on a 10-3 run to take its largest lead at 20-13.
• A pair of blocks and a kill by Christa Johnson sparked the run and forced a timeout at 14-10, but after extending the lead to seven, Howard fought back to within 23-21.  Kills by Johnson and Paola Caten wrapped it up for Coppin who did not record a service error in the frame after committing 18 in the first three sets.

 
Fifth Set

• Coppin committed three more service errors in the deciding set which happened to be the final margin as Howard took the frame, 15-12.
• Tied at 3-3, Howard went on a 3-0 run to take a 6-3 lead and force a CSU timeout.
• Coppin pulled within two points four times during the frame but got no closer. 

 
Inside the Numbers

• Paola Caten led all players with 20 kills while hitting .313 for the match and also added ten digs to notch a double-double.  The freshman from Tampa, Fla., also had three blocks.
• Miajavon Coleman also had a double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs to go with four aces and a pair of blocks.
• Christa Johnson and Salma Gonzalez added nine kills apiece with Johnson hitting .421 witj just one error. Johnson was credited with a match-high six blocks while Gonzalez added five more, as did Jordan Celestine.
• Brianna Lang assisted on a season-high 54 of the Eagles' 61 kills as CSU outhit Howard, .253 to .227.
• Ashley Roman recorded a match-high 25 digs and went over the 400 mark for the season to become just the third CSU player to do so in a single-season.  Her 409 digs thus far are the third most in school-history.  The school-record is held by Gabrielle Otero who recorded 471 in 2014 and she also had 465 in 2013.
• Coppin's 12.5 blocks and 60 assists were season-highs as Howard had just eight.
• Coppin's downfall came in the service game, committing 21 service errors combined with Howard's five aces.

 
Up Next: Coppin is back in action when it hosts Morgan State at 7 pm on Sunday, November 8 in the final home match of the season.