BALTIMORE – Coppin State's trio of
Paola Caten,
Salma Gonzalez and
Chudear Tut combined for 33 kills and just two errors in a 3-1 (26-24, 25-17, 24-26, 25-17) victory on Thursday night at PEC Arena. The Eagles improve to 2-4 overall and even their MEAC record at 1-1 while the Bison fall to 2-3 with a 1-2 mark in league play.
Caten led all players with 15 kills with just one error on 30 swings to hit .467 for the match. A sophomore from Tampa, Fla., Caten also came up big defensively with six digs and tied Tut and
Jordan Celestine with a team-high four blocks.
Gonzalez notched her first double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs while hitting .409. The senior from Isabela, Puerto Rico, also had a career-high five service aces.
A freshman from Minneapolis, Minn., Tut continued her impressive play with an errorless eight kills, hitting .533 for the match.
The Eagles also got offensive contributions from
Miajavon Coleman who finished with eight kills while
Kareemah Hopkins and Celestine added four kills apiece. Hopkins assisted on 37 of CSU's 49 kills as the Eagles outhit Howard, .290 to .174 for the match.
On the defensive end,
Ashley Roman led all players with 20 digs.
After trading points early in the first set, Coppin went on a 5-0 run with a pair of aces by Gonzalez to take a 10-6 lead. Howard was able to battle back to take a 16-15 lead and went ahead 18-16 to force an Eagles timeout. The stoppage paid off for CSU who then scored six of the next seven points with three-straight blocks from Caten.
Caten added another kill following a CSU timeout to give the Eagles, a 24-22 advantage but the Bison scored two-straight to tie the match at 24-24. Coppin was able to take the opener following a pair of Howard attack errors.
The second set started much like the first as Coppin had the first large spurt of the frame with a 6-1 run to take a 12-7 lead. During that span, Gonzalez had another two aces and a kill, while
Aislynn Weaver also connected for an ace. Howard got no closer than 12-9 the remainder of the set as Caten, Gonzalez and Tut combined for seven kills on the remaining 13 points.
Howard took the third set, 26-24 despite Coppin battling back from a 14-10 deficit to tie the score and eventually take a 23-22 lead. Howard responded with a pair of points before Caten tied it up at 24-24 with a kill.
Howard continued the momentum early into the fourth set, but a 5-0 CSU run, which featured a pair of kills from Tut, gave the Eagles a 12-6 lead. The Eagles remained in control the rest of the frame and led by as many as eight points before Coleman hit back-to-back kills to win the match.
The victory over Howard was Coppin's first since November 10, 2013, snapping a 14-match winless streak against the Bison.
Coppin returns to action on March 4-5 when it takes on the same Howard team in back-to-back 6 pm starts. Thursday's match will be played in Washington, D.C., followed by Friday night's match at PEC Arena.
