BALTIMORE – A well-balanced attack led by setter
Andrea Tsvetanova and middle hitter
Geraldyn Palacios came up big as Coppin State's volleyball team swept Howard, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-19) on Sunday afternoon at PEC Arena. The Eagles remain undefeated in conference play, improving to 16-3 overall and 6-0 in the MEAC while the Bison fall to 7-10 on the year and 3-2 mark in league play.
Tsvetanova assisted on 34 of the team's 40 kills while adding four digs and a block as Coppin outhit Howard, .245 to .206. Palacios led the Eagles with ten kills on .444 hitting to go with three blocks.
Paola Caten, TaKenya Stafford and
Laila Ibrahim had eight kills each with
Hope Casel chipping in with five. Ibrahim led the defense at the net with six blocks, followed by Caten with four and both Casel and Stafford had two apiece.
Caten and Stafford had 25 attempts apiece, followed by Palacios and Ibrahim in the middle with a combined 35 attempts and Casel with 16.
Andrea Serrano had a team-high nine digs with Stafford and
Ashley Roman recording seven apiece. Roman had a pair of aces and added a kill after a highlight-reel dig earlier in the rally.
Set 1
- Coppin trailed early on but turned a 6-5 deficit into a 13-6 lead with an 8-0 run featuring a pair of kills from Palacios and Stafford along with an ace by Coco Figueroa.
- Howard slowly crawled back into it and cut the deficit to 24-23 before the Eagles forced an error to take the opener.
Set 2
- Howard took an early 3-1 lead before Ibrahim scored three-straight points with a pair of kills and a block to give Coppin back the advantage.
- The teams traded points but Coppin put some distance between them with an 8-2 spurt to go up 17-12.
- The Bison cut the deficit to 21-20 before Casel stopped the drought with a kill, followed by a sneaky overpass by Roman which fell for a point.
- Howard answered with a kill before Palacios added back-to-back kills to give Coppin the second set.
Set 3
- Unlike the first two sets, Coppin got out strong to a 7-3 lead with five-straight points.
- Following a Howard timeout, the Bison quickly got to within 8-7 before a block from Caten and Palacios.
- Howard could not get over the hump as they got back to a single point on a couple occasions but the Navy & Gold put together a small run to keep the visitors at bay.
- A kill by Stafford gave CSU a comfortable 23-18 lead down the stretch, and after a kill from Howard, Ibrahim put down a kill and combined for a block with Caten to finish the match.
Up Next: Coppin is scheduled to visit Morgan State on Friday, October 13 for a 6 pm start.
