NORFOLK, Va. – Coppin State's volleyball team took home four of five major awards and placed a league-high five players on All-MEAC Teams, it was announced by the conference office on Wednesday morning. It is tied for the most players that the Eagles have ever placed on the All-Conference Team, matching the 2014 season where five players were placed on three postseason teams.
Kareemah Hopkins was named Setter of the Year,
Ashley Roman received Defensive Player of the Year,
Chudear Tut earned Rookie of the Year and
Tim Walsh was selected as Coach of the Year.
Miajavon Coleman and Roman were named to the All-MEAC First Team while Hopkins, Tut and
Paola Caten earned Second Team accolades. Tut also received All-Rookie Team honors.
In her first season at Coppin, Hopkins led the MEAC with 9.42 assists per set and nine matches with over 30 assists. A junior from San Diego, Calif., Hopkins was a seven-time MEAC Setter of the Week and recorded a season-high 52 assists in a win at Morgan State, which was one off the school-record for assists in a four-set match. Hopkins assisted on at least 40 kills in six matches, and added 41 kills while hitting .289, 67 digs, 23 blocks and 11 service aces. The primary quarterback of Coppin's offense, Hopkins helped the Eagles to a MEAC-high 676 kills on the season and a .230 hitting percentage. Hopkins is the first CSU player to earn MEAC Setter of the Year honors.
The top libero in the MEAC, Roman repeated as a First Team selection as she led the MEAC with 5.41 digs per set, ranking 21
st in the Nation. Roman recorded at least 20 digs in nine matches, including a career-high 32 in a win at Delaware State on March 18 which matched a school-record. A sophomore from Isabela, Puerto Rico, Roman had a streak of five-straight matches where she went over the 20 digs mark and finished second on the team with 49 assists, and third with 15 aces. In just two collegiate seasons, Roman already ranks sixth in CSU history with 769 digs while her 15 matches with at least 20 digs are second in school-history. Roman is the first CSU Player to earn MEAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades.
A five-time MEAC Rookie of the Week, Tut was one of the top hitters in the conference as a freshman as she finished second on the Eagles with 133 kills (2.46 per set) while leading the team with a .344 hitting percentage and 51 blocks (0.94 per set). Tut was even more productive in conference matches, hitting .356 while tallying 1.03 blocks per set. A native of Minneapolis, Minn., Tut ranked third in the conference in blocks, fifth in hitting percentage and seventh in kills per set. Tut had double digit kills in nine matches this season, saving her best performance for last as she notched a season-high 14 kills in a sweep of Morgan State while hitting .500. On the defensive end, Tut had at least two blocks in every match, including a season-high seven in a win over Delaware State on March 19. Tut is just the second CSU player to be named the MEAC Rookie of the Year, joining
Miajavon Coleman (2018).
Walsh is the first Eagles volleyball coach to win the MEAC Coach of the Year award after guiding Coppin to its first-ever regular season title and winning season, and a program-record nine conference victories. The Eagles are currently on a program-record nine match winning streak and set a school-record with a .320 hitting percentage in a five-set match against Villanova. Now in his fourth season at the helm of the Navy & Gold, Walsh is second in program-history with 39 victories while going 27-20 in MEAC matches.
Coleman is now a three-time All-MEAC selection and is receiving First Team honors for the second-straight season after receiving Rookie of the Year and Second Team honors as a freshman in 2018. A junior from San Antonio, Texas, Coleman led the Eagles with 170 kills (3.33 per set) while hitting .188. Coleman was second on the team with 16 aces, and fourth with 96 digs and 22 blocks. Receiving a league-high five MEAC Player of the Week awards this season, Coleman ranked second in the conference with 3.33 kills per set. Coleman recorded at least ten kills in ten matches this season which included a season-high 21 against Morgan State on March 22 where she also put up season-best numbers in hitting percentage (.321) and digs (14).
Arguably the most versatile player in the MEAC, Caten is receiving All-Conference honors for the first time in her career but received All-Rookie Team honors last season. Caten ranked second on the team with a .258 hitting percentage, 2.63 kills per set and 2.49 digs per set, third with 113 kills, 107 digs and 15 aces and fifth in blocks. A sophomore from Tampa, Fla., Caten recorded double digit kills in five matches, including a season-high 19 kills at Delaware State where she also notched a double-double with 16 digs along with a season-high three aces. Caten also had a pair of double-doubles against Morgan State, and is the only player in the conference ranked in hitting percentage, kills and digs.
The Eagles (10-4, 9-1 MEAC) enter this weekend's MEAC Tournament as the top seed in the Northern Division and will take on NC Central in the Semifinal on Friday, April 2 at 7 pm. The winner will face North Carolina A&T/Delaware State the following night at 6 pm.
