BALTIMORE – Coppin State's volleyball team won its tenth-straight match to tie a school-record as it defeated Norfolk State, 3-1 (25-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-17) on Friday night at PEC Arena. The Eagles now stand at 22-3 overall and a perfect 11-0 in the MEAC while the Spartans fall to 8-11 on the year and 7-5 in league play.
CSU's 22 victories this season are one shy of the school-record it set last season when it went 23-11 with a trip to the NIVC Tournament.
Paola Caten put down a season-high 17 kills on .282 swinging while adding six digs but was far from the only contributor on the offensive end.
TaKenya Stafford notched a double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs while
Geraldyn Palacios and
Hope Casel came through with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. The trio all hit extremely well with Palacios coming in at .556 with just two errors on 18 swings and a match-high four blocks.
Andrea Tsvetanova assisted on 50 of the team's 63 kills and added ten digs for a double-double, three kills and a pair of blocks as Coppin outhit Norfolk State, .272 to .154.
On the defensive side of the court,
Ashley Roman led all players with 15 digs, followed by
Coco Figueroa with 12, Stafford and Tsvetanova, and
Andrea Serrano with nine. Figueroa also had a pair of aces while Serrano and
Genesis Hernandez added one apiece.
Set 1
- Coppin battled back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the score at ten following a 4-0 run where Caten recorded a pair of kills and a block.
- Following back-to-back points by the Spartans, the Eagles scored five-straight with a pair of kills by Stafford to go up, 15-12.
- Norfolk State quickly pulled back within one and went on a 4-0 run to retake the lead at 19-18.
- Laila Ibrahim tied it up with a kill before the Spartans scored five of the next seven points.
- Coppin pulled to within 24-23 after a kill from Tsvetanova and a NSU error before the guests took the opener as a CSU attack went long.
Set 2
- The Eagles trailed, 9-3 early in the set before head coach Tim Walsh called a timeout, and the stoppage paid off as Coppin scored three-straight.
- CSU managed to tie the score at 11 with Palacios tallying a kill and a block before taking a 17-15 lead following a 4-0 run.
- Norfolk retook the lead at 21-19 before the Eagles ran off five-straight points, bookended by kills from Palacios, to go up 24-21 and even the set following an error by the Spartans.
Set 3
- Coppin hit .257 in the third set and matched its second set with 15 kills as it pulled away midway through the frame.
- Tied at 13, the Eagles went on a 4-0 run with kills by Ibrahim, Caten and Casel, and Norfolk got no closer than two points the rest of the way.
- The Eagles took the set following back-to-back kills from Caten and Casel.
Set 4
- Coppin was dominant in the fourth set, hitting .500 with 20 kills on 34 swings.
- Trailing, 11-10, the Eagles went on a 5-0 run featuring a pair of kills from Casel and another by Caten.
- CSU answered a NSU kill with a 3-0 run, followed by another 4-0 run with Caten leading the charge with four kills over the stretch to take control of the set and win the match.
Up Next: Coppin will look to clinch the MEAC Regular Season Title outright as it travels to Howard on Sunday, November 5 in a 3 pm start.
