NORFOLK, Va. – Coppin State volleyball's historic season came to and on Saturday night as it fell to North Carolina A&T, 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-9) on Saturday night in the MEAC Championship match. The Eagles finish the season with an 11-5 overall record, its best in program history.
CSU's middle hitters led the attack as
Chudear Tut had a team-high ten kills while
Jordan Celestine added nine and a team-high three blocks. Celestine's three blocks moved her into sixth all-time on Coppin's all-time blocks list, passing
Lauren Lacey and
Indira Laurencin with 166 in her career.
On the outside,
Paola Caten and
Miajavon Coleman each had seven kills while Coleman was credited with 12 digs, three aces and a pair of blocks. Caten chipped in with eight digs.
Kareemah Hopkins led all players with 29 assists and
Ashley Roman finished with a match-high 14 digs, but the Aggies outhit Coppin, .260 to .104.
Following the conclusion of the match, Coleman and Tut were named to the MEAC All-Tournament Team.
The Eagles led early in the first set, but North Carolina A&T regrouped with a pair of 3-0 runs to take a 15-13 lead. A kill by Celestine tied it up at 15-15, but once again, the Aggies went on a run and took a 19-16 advantage. It was all Coppin from there as the Eagles closed the set on a 9-0 run to win the first set. Following an error, Coleman served back-to-back aces to tie the score and Celestine had three of the final four points to give CSU the set.
Celestine kept Coppin alive in the second set as she recorded a block and added a pair of kills to help cut a four-point deficit into a 15-15 tie. Following a timeout, Celestine added another block, but an Aggies 4-1 run gave them a 21-19 lead and the Eagles got no closer than 21-20 after a service error.
A 4-0 runs by North Carolina A&T put some distance between the teams at 14-9 in the third set and Coppin was unable to respond as the Aggies took the set 25-17.
The Aggies opened the fourth set with five-straight points, and, following a kill by Tut, went on a 7-0 run to take a commanding 12-1 lead and never looked back.
