PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Coppin State's volleyball team split a pair of matches at Penn's Sheraton University City Volleyball Invitational, held Saturday night at the Palestra. To open the day, the Eagles defeated Bucknell, 3-1 (13-25, 26-24, 25-10, 25-21), before falling to the host Quakers (19-25, 25-15, 27-25, 27-25).
The Eagles now stand at 3-3 on the season and return to the court on Wednesday, September 8 when they welcome George Washington University to PEC Arena for a 5 pm start.
Match vs. Bucknell
Andrea Tsvetanova posted her third double-double of the season with a match-high 37 assists along with 12 digs as she set up outside hitters
Miajavon Coleman (19 kills) and
Paola Caten (15 kills) for a combined 34 kills.
Ashley Roman led all players with 21 digs and
Jordan Celestine posted a match-high seven blocks.
Coleman finished a dig shy of a double-double but continued to climb the CSU kill charts, passing
Brittany Arvin for third on the all-time list. Roman also made history, notching her 19
th match with at least 20 digs which breaks
Gabrielle Otero's record of 18 matches.
Bucknell took control of the first set with a pair of 5-0 runs and never looked back, but the Eagles regrouped in the second set with an early 8-2 run to take a 11-6 lead. The Bison fought back to regain the lead and held a 20-17 advantage to force a CSU timeout. Following the stoppage, Caten and Coleman recorded back-to-back kills, but once again Bucknell stayed firm and forced a set-point at 24-21.
Caten answered with a kill, followed by another by Celestine to force a Bucknell timeout. Coppin forced a Bison error out of the timeout to tie the match at 24-24 and Celestine and
Hope Casel combined for a block to give CSU a 25-24 lead before a ball-handling error tied the match at one set apiece.
With the third set tied at 3-3, Caten tallied six kills over the next nine rallies to give the Eagles a commanding 11-4 lead. After a service error, Coppin went on an 11-2 run to pull away before taking the set, 25-10.
The Bison got to an early 7-1 lead in the fourth set, but Coppin clawed its way back with a 9-1 run to take a 12-10 advantage. Bucknell tied it back up with two-straight points, but CSU responded by scoring eight of the next ten points to go on top, 20-14. BU pulled to within three as Coppin held a match-point before Coleman sealed the win with a kill.
Match at Penn
Tsvetanova was even better against Penn despite the loss as she tallied 42 assists, 14 digs and five blocks and added three kills. The junior setter from Sofia, Bulgaria, quarterbacked the Eagles attack to a .213 hitting percentage.
Three Eagles finished with double digit kills, led by
Miajavon Coleman with 15 kills to go with ten digs for a double-double. Caten also notched a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs while adding three aces and three blocks.
Ahzhi Coleman added ten kills on .444 hitting and was credited with three blocks as well.
Celestine and
Sydney Hicks chipped in with eight and seven kills, respectively while Celestine also had a match-high eight blocks. With her eight blocks, Celestine moved into fourth place on CSU's all-time list with 190, passing
Kandace Thomas.
Elsewhere on the defensive end, Roman picked up her 20
th game with over 20 digs, recording a team-high 24 on the night.
Aislynn Weaver also chipped in with six digs while
Khala Cameron had three digs to go with three aces.
With the first set tied at two points apiece, Coppin went on a 10-2 run to pull away from the Quakers. Penn rallied to within 19-16 but kills from Hicks and Celestine upped the advantage to five points and Hicks later finished the frame off with a kill.
A 6-1 Penn run midway through the second set gave the hosts some breathing room and Coppin was unable to put together back-to-back points, allowing the Quakers to even the match.
The third set was tight throughout with the largest lead coming at 21-18 in favor of the Quakers. A service error and a kill from Caten cut the deficit to a single point, and after a stoppage, Coppin went on a 4-1 with two points apiece from Caten and
Miajavon Coleman, forcing a Penn timeout at 24-23. The Quakers tied it up, and after a kill from Tsvetanova, closed the set with three kills to win, 27-25.
Coppin fought back from several deficits in the fourth set before taking a 22-19 lead following a kill from Celestine and a pair of aces by Cameron. Penn regrouped with four-straight points following a timeout which prompted a timeout by the Eagles, trailing 23-22. The teams traded points as
Miajavon Coleman and Hicks combined for three kills, tying it up at 25-25, before Penn won it with a pair of kills.
