AUBURN, Ala. – Coppin State's volleyball team took the opening set before dropping the next three to SEC member Auburn University in a 3-1 (24-26, 25-17, 25-15, 25-18) loss at the Tigers' War Eagle Invitational on Friday night at Neville Arena. The Eagles now stand at 1-1 on the young season while the Tigers, who advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament last season, won their third-straight season opener.
Ammaarah Williams led Coppin with 12 kills while
TaKenya Stafford recorded her second double-double in as many matches with ten kills and 11 digs. Both players added a block while
Geraldyn Palacios added seven kills on .385 hitting along with a team-high three blocks.
Andrea Tsvetanova also posted a double-double with 27 assists and 11 digs while
Ashley Roman dug out a team-high 16 AU attacks.
Andrea Serrano was credited with seven digs, followed by Williams with five and
Coco Figueroa chipped in with four.
The towering Tigers, whose average height was 6-foot-3, outhit Coppin, .309 to .047 on the night, while the Eagles totaled 57 digs.
Auburn got out to an early 5-1 lead in the opener, but CSU got right back in it with four-straight points with Roman firing an ace before a kill by Stafford. Coppin opened a 13-10 lead thanks to a block by Palacios followed by a
Laila Ibrahim kill and they never trailed the rest of the way. The Tigers were able to tie the set at 24 before Stafford finished them off with a kill.
Williams opened the second set with a kill but Auburn scored the next five points and never looked back, leading by as many as nine.
The Eagles also had an early lead in the third before Auburn went on a 4-0 run to take a 9-6 lead and CSU got no closer than two points.
In the fourth, Auburn led from start to finish, pulling away with a 6-1 run midway through the set despite Coppin closing to within a single point a couple times early on.
Coppin closes out the War Eagle Invitational against Jacksonville State on Saturday, August 26 at 2:00 pm. The Gamecocks needed five sets to defeat McNeese State, who Coppin swept, on Friday afternoon.
