BALTIMORE – Miajavon Coleman and
Paola Caten both notched double-doubles to lead the Coppin State volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 26-28, 25-22) MEAC victory over crosstown rival Morgan State on Thursday afternoon at Hill Field House. With the victory, the Eagles improve to 6-4 overall and lead the Northern Division with a 5-1 mark in league play.
Coleman led all players with a season-high 19 kills while also recording a season-high 11 digs for her
first double-double of the season. Caten continued her hot hitting on the offensive end, recording 12 kills with just one error on 30 swings to hit .367 for the match. Caten also added a career-high 18 digs and added a pair of aces.
Chudear Tut also finished in double figures in kills, tallying 12 on the day while hitting .435 to go with a match-high five blocks.
Salma Gonzalez and
Jordan Celestine also contributed on the offensive end with seven and five kills, respectively.
Kareemah Hopkins assisted on 52 of the Eagles' 63 kills as Coppin outhit Morgan, .268 to .191. Hopkins finished a dig shy of a double-double and was credited with a pair of blocks. Her 52 assists are a season-high and one off the CSU school-record for a four-set match.
Sophomore libero
Ashley Roman accumulated a match-high 20 digs.
Coppin rallied from an early 6-1 deficit after a timeout to tie the score at 8-8 and used a 4-0 run midway through the first set to take a 15-13 lead and force a Morgan State timeout. The stoppage did not pay off for the Bears as Tut and Coleman combined for a block and Caten served up an ace to give the Eagles a four-point lead. Morgan got no closer than two points as Caten finished the set off with a blistering kill.
The Eagles began to put some distance between them and Morgan State in the second set with three-straight points to make it an 11-8 score. Both teams continued to trade points, but CSU was able to build the lead to 23-17 after a pair of kills by Caten and a Morgan attack error. A kill by Coleman gave Coppin its first set-point at 24-18, before Hopkins recorded a kill to win the set.
Morgan built an early 9-3 lead in the third set, but Coppin came right back, scoring seven of the next nine points to pull within, 11-10. The Bears answered Coppin's rally and took a 15-11 lead at the media timeout. CSU fought back and even held a 23-22 lead after a kill from Caten. The teams traded points, but after a kill by Coleman tied the score at 26-26, Morgan recorded a kill and an ace to force a fourth set.
Coleman racked up six kills in the fourth and final set which included five of the team's final six points to seal the match. Coppin had to rally from an 11-7 deficit, and they managed to do so quickly as
Sydney Hicks led the Eagles on a 4-0 run with three kills to give CSU a 14-13 lead. Morgan regained the lead at 19-18, but after a block by Caten and Celestine, as well as a kill by Coleman, the Eagles never trailed. With the frame tied at 22-22, Coleman had back-to-back kills and Tut finished MSU off with a kill.
