LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Coppin State's volleyball team will roll the dice in Las Vegas at the Rebel Challenge to continue their seven-match winning streak, which is tied for the third-longest in school history, on September 14-16. The Eagles (8-1) open the Invitational against the host UNLV Rebels on Thursday night on the Mountain West Digital Network before taking on Lamar and Portland on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
LAST TIME OUT
CSU is coming off a 3-0 week where it swept Loyola on the road before taking down both Lafayette and Penn in straight sets at the Penn Invitational over the weekend. Against the Greyhounds,
Ashley Roman became the MEAC's all-time leader in digs.
Ammaarah Williams slammed a match-high 14 kills in a win over Lafayette.
Laila Ibrahim made history against the Quakers, hitting a school-record .923 with 12 kills on 13 attempts in the victory.
Andrea Tsvetanova and
TaKenya Stafford earned All-Tournament Team honors at Penn.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
UNLV
The Rebels made the NCAA Tournament last season and has picked up victories against Colorado, Campbell, Memphis, and FIU, and most recently took Washington to five sets. Picked to finish first in the Mountain West, the Rebels are led by Isabel Martin, the reigning MWC Player of the Year and a AVCA All-American. Gabrielle Arretche-Ramos and Jordyn Freeman are also back as returning All-Conference players. Martin averages 4.32 kills/set, followed by Ramos at 2.43 kills with Chloe Thomas (1.87), Dakota Quinlan (1.54) and Freeman (1.42) causing fits for defenses. Arien Fafard averages 7.74 assists and matches Martin with a team-high 12 aces. Caleigh King leads the way in the back row with 3.32 digs/set while Freeman paces the front row with 0.84 blocks. Isha Knight also notches close to two digs/set, followed by Fafard and Martin.
LAMAR
Lamar showcases a balanced offense with four players averaging over two kills/set. Emily Moon debuted this weekend at Louisiana Tech, recording 2.71 kills over three matches. She is followed by Lyric Jordan (2.67), Sydnee Griffen (2.15) and Wiktoria Warpechowska (2.00). Jodie Edmonds and Jo Moffitt run a 6-2 offense for the Cardinals and both average over two digs/set as well, just behind Freedom Stephenson (3.64 digs) and Kaeden Robinson (3.32). Warpechowska and Gracie Cassidy have an identical 25 blocks this season with Griffen, Moffitt and Jordan all with double-digit blocks.
PORTLAND
The Pilots are battle-tested with all nine matches going at least four sets and they are 2-3 in five-set matches already this season. Maui Robins takes the bulk of the swings and is averaging 3.10 kills/set on .207 hitting. Elin Larsson debuted this past weekend and averaged 2.00 kills while Lia Hawken (1.95), Taina Kaauwai (1.54), Lucia Busso (1.32) and Leonie Freytag (1.09) got many attempts. Maddie Corpe and Elena Bullemer split time at setter while Kili Robins averages a team-high 2.82 digs, followed by Maui Robins at just under two digs. Kaauwai and Una Rajkovic are the team's top blockers with 0.85 and 0.71 per set, respectively, with Maui Robins, Busso and Hawken also being threats at the net.
'A' TEAM WINS WEEKLY AWARDS
Ashley Roman,
Andrea Tsvetanova and
Ammaarah Williams all received MEAC Weekly awards on September 4 with Williams earning Player of the Week, Roman was Defensive Player of the Week and Tsvetanova as Setter of the Week. Williams is now a 4x Player of the Week in her career. Including their awards on September 11, Roman has received Defensive Player of the Week 16 times and Tsvetanova is a 12x Setter of the Week.
LONGEST WINNING STREAKS
Coppin is amid a seven-match winning streak which is tied for the third-longest in school-history. The Eagles won a program-record ten-straight matches in the 2020 season which was played in the Spring 2021 semester due to Covid.
Wins Dates
10 (2/25/21-4/2/21)
8 (10/25/13-11/16/13)
7 (8/26/23-9/9/23)
7 (9/9/22-10/7/22)
7 (10/14/22-11/4/22)
QUEEN OF ACES
After leading the Nation in aces & aces/set last year,
Andrea Tsvetanova is the CSU all-time record holder in the category, leads all active players in aces per set and 4th among total aces.
Her 114 aces were tied for the 3rd-most in the NCAA since the 25-point scoring format started in 2008. Her 0.86 aces/set was the 4th most during that stretch. She matched an NCAA record with 15 aces in a 3-set match vs. South Carolina State.
2022 NCAA Aces/Set
1. Andrea Tsvetanova (CSU) 0.86
2. Abby Nieporte (Lafayette) 0.74
2022 NCAA Service Aces
1. Tsvetanova (CSU).. 114
2. Mia Wesley (Southern Miss.) 77
NCAA Active Career Aces
1. B. Petrenko (Louis.) 212 (412g)
2. C. Barnes (Texas).. 181 (418g)
3. D. Richins (Weber St) 181 (457g)
4. Tsvetanova (CSU) 179 (264g)
NCAA Active Aces/Set (min. 100 SA)
1. Tsvetanova (CSU) 0.678
2. Giulia Cardona (Evansville) 0.516
3. Brigitta Petrenko (Louis) 0.515
SETTING HISTORY IN THREE SETS
In the season opening sweep against McNeese,
Andrea Tsvetanova recorded 44 assists, the most of her career in a three-set match. It was the most assists by a CSU player since Chelsee Sauni, Coppin's all-time leader in assists, had 47 assists in a win at Maryland Eastern Shore on November 3, 2013. It was also the most by any MEAC player since Stephanie Shultis of Howard had 46 at Delaware State on October 26, 2014.
DIGGING TO THE TOP
Ashley Roman has been named 1st Team All-MEAC all four years and has received the league's Defensive Player of the Year all three times its been awarded. She recently broke the MEAC record for digs, held by Ashley Preston, who also coached at Coppin from 2012-14. Roman is ranked 5th among active NCAA players in digs and her 4.76 digs/set is also the 10th most amongst the active players with at least 1,500 digs.
NCAA Active Career Digs
1. Tara Beilsmith (SEMO) 2,412
2. Rocio Morio (N. Florida) 2,318
3. Carissa Barnes (Texas) 2,251
4. Ellie Snook (USC) 2,216
5. Ashley Roman (Coppin) 2,104
6. Kylie Murr (Minnesota) 2,043
MEAC WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Coppin State has had an athlete win the MEAC Woman of the Year award the last three years, and two of them have been volleyball players with Salma Gonzales in 2020 and
Miajavon Coleman in 2022. This year,
Ashley Roman is a likely candidate for the award. While her athletic prowess is well-documented, she has also been a standout in the classroom with over a 3.8 GPA in Biology, started a Latinx club on Coppin State's campus while serving on the MEAC's Hispanic and Latinx Heritage committee, and has organized several food and supply drives for hurricane and earthquake victims in her native Puerto Rico.
LAILA'S COLD AS 'I'CE
Sophomore
Laila Ibrahim hit a school-record .923 with 12 kills on 13 swings in a sweep at Penn on September 9, breaking a record held by USA Track & Field Olympian Christina Epps who hit .769 with ten kills at Providence on September 10, 2011. Ibrahim's 12 kills and 13 attempts were both career highs, as were her five blocks against the Quakers. Ibrahim's hitting percentage is the best in the NCAA this season and is the highest in the NCAA since Lauren Matthews of Western Kentucky hit .929 with 13 kills on 14 swings against FIU on October 1, 2021.
5 SEASONS OF MEAC SUCCESS
Over the last five seasons, Coppin has been one of the top programs in the MEAC. Since 2018, the Eagles have the second-best record in the league which included the program's first regular season title & winning season in the Spring 2020 campaign. From 2005 to 2017, Coppin won just 45 conference games.
MEAC Standings Since 2018
Howard 49-16 (75.4%)
Coppin State 44-19 (69.8%)
NON-CONFERENCE PROWESS
Coppin has already won eight games this season and is quickly approaching the school-record nine non-conference wins they won last season. Among the highlights last year was a Liberty University Invitational Championship where the Eagles defeated Liberty, Radford and Eastern Michigan. CSU also defeated a trio of SWAC schools at the ISTAP HBCU Challenge in Alabama, as well as George Washington, North Carolina A&T and Bethune-Cookman.
TK 3-FOR-3
TaKenya Stafford was impressive in her CSU debut, recording three double-doubles in as many matches at Au-burn's war Eagle Invitational. In the opener against McNeese, Stafford hit .321 with a team-high 15 kills along with 14 digs. She followed up with ten kills and 11 digs against a tough Auburn squad before concluding the weekend with a team-high 12 kills and ten digs. Stafford had three double-doubles as a freshman at Eastern Illinois in 2021.
GIGI A SILENT KILLER
While
Ammaarah Williams and
TaKenya Stafford got much of the hype during the opening weekend at Auburn,
Geraldyn Palacios also had an impressive week in the middle. Hitting a team-high .373 with 24 kills in three matches, Palacios recorded a career-high 11 kills on 25 swings to hit .360 against McNeese. She hit an identical .385 against Auburn and Jacksonville State with a combined 13 kills and seven blocks in the two matches.
WELCOME BACK P
Paola Caten returns from injury this season as one of the most all-around players in school-history. An All-Rookie selection in 2019, she made 2nd Team in the Spring 2021 season and first team in Fall 2021. She enters this year just outside Coppin's top ten in kills and digs while ranking eighth in both aces and points. She owns a school-record with 71 attacks in a single match as she recorded a career-high 28 kills along with 16 digs for 30.5 points in a 5-set loss at NC Central. NCCU was led by current CSU player
Ammaarah Williams with 19 kills.
OUT OF HER SHADOW
For the first time in her collegiate career,
Ahzhi Coleman will not have her sister
Miajavon Coleman as a team-mate. While the older Coleman proved to be one of the top players in MEAC history, Ahzhi has made her own legacy at Coppin. After being an All-Rookie Team selection in 2021 with a team-high 57 blocks to go with 138 kills, she upper her production to 162 kills and 71 blocks while hitting .250. In just two seasons, she is nearing CSU's top ten in blocks with 131 in her career.
BREAKOUT SOPHOMORE YEAR
After seeing limited time as a freshman,
Hope Casel stepped up in a big way during the 2022 season. Casel near-ly tripled her kills from her freshman season and finished fourth on the team with 11 on the season. She also doubled her blocks from the previous season with 36 on the season.
TK OFFERS HOLLYWOOD VIBES
TaKenya Stafford, a transfer from Eastern Illinois, brings a different kind of vibe to the Eagles this season and is expected to be an immediate starter at the pin. Hailing from Los Angeles, TK recorded 76 kills with 177 digs in 15 matches for the Panthers in 2021. Recording 14 kills with 13 digs in her collegiate debut vs. Bellarmine, she had back to-back double-doubles at Belmont later in the season (20k/14d & 14k/10d). She appeared in just two matches last season.
NEW TO THE NEST
Including
TaKenya Stafford, Coppin welcomes six newcomers to West Baltimore.
Divine Muo is a transfer from Stephen F. Austin while
Andrea Serrano comes from Hutchinson CC in Kansas. The Eagles also brought in three true freshmen in:
Coco Figueroa (Bayamon, P.R.),
Cameron Lucas (Atlanta, Ga.) &
Kaliko Schilling (Hauula, Hawaii).
PLAYING PROFESSIONALLY
Miajavon Coleman and
Yaniris Miller-Green are now playing professionally overseas after concluding their collegiate careers in 2022. They are believed to be the first CSU volleyball players to play professionally. Coleman now plays in Cyprus for Club Salamina while Miller-Green is in Peru with Club De-portivo Soan.
2022 RECAP
Coppin won the MEAC Regular Season Championship and advanced to the conference championship game before falling to #3 seed and host Delaware State, 3-1. The Eagles won a school-record 23 matches and earned their first-ever postseason bid where they dropped a five-heartbreaker at Wake Forest in the NIVC First Round.
2022 AWARDS
Ashley Roman, Andrea Tsvetanova and
Ammaarah Williams were all MEAC First Team selections with Roman winning her third-straight Defensive Player of the Year Award. Tsvetanova, who led the Nation in aces (114) and aces/set (0.86), earned MEAC Co-Setter of the Year and VolleyballMag.com Honorable Mention All-America accolades while Williams took home First Team honors for the third-straight time while in her first season at CSU.
