AUBURN, Ala. – TaKenya Stafford posted her third double-double in as many matches to lead the Coppin State volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-16) sweep over Jacksonville State to close out the War Eagle Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Auburn's Neville Arena. The Eagles now stand at 2-1 on the season.
Stafford led all players with 12 kills on .235 hitting along with ten digs, which matched
Ashley Roman for a match high.
Ammaarah Williams and
Geraldyn Palacios combined for 14 kills and added four blocks apiece while Williams added nine digs.
Andrea Tsvetanova assisted on 29 of the team's 39 kills as the Eagles hit .185 compared to just .029 for Jacksonville State.
Newcomers
Andrea Serrano and
Coco Figueroa chipped in with seven and six digs, respectively, while Figueroa was credited with three aces.
Coppin led from start to finish in the opener, opening an 11-3 lead as Williams, Palacios and
Hope Casel had two early kills apiece. After a timeout, JSU pulled to within four before Stafford answered with a kills followed by a Gamecocks ball-handling error. The Eagles extended their advantage back to 20-12 with a 4-0 run and maintained a large lead down the stretch.
Stafford and Williams combined for nine kills in the second set as the Eagles bounced back from a 4-0 deficit with five-straight points.
Laila Ibrahim had a kill and a block during the stretch. The score remained close with ten tied scores and five lead changes, but when JSU took a 18-16 lead, Coppin scored four-straight points with Palacios recording back-to-back kills. After a Gamecocks timeout, tallied two more kills and Tsvetanova added another to give the Navy & Gold a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
In the final set, Stafford slammed four kills as Coppin hit a match-high .214 for the frame. The Eagles led by a slight margin early before pulling away with a pair of 4-0 runs, prompting a couple JSU timeouts. A block from Palacios and Williams led the JSU's final timeout at 19-15 and Coppin finished it off with an ace from Figueroa followed by a kill by Williams.
Coppin's home opener, scheduled for August 28 against Hampton, has been canceled. The Eagles will be back in action on September 1-2 at the Marshall Invitational where they will take on UNC Greensboro, Morehead State and the Thundering Herd.
