BALTIMORE – Ezgi Kucuk recorded a team-high 12 kills to lead the Coppin State volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-15) victory over Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles improved to 11-14 on the year and 7-2 in the MEAC while the Hawks fell to 9-11 overall and 4-5 in league play.
A junior from Ankara, Turkey, Kucuk hit a career-high .750, recording no errors on 16 attempts to lead the Eagles. Kucuk also added an ace and a pair of digs, helping Coppin to its 14
th-straight win at PEC Arena.
Sophia Bertotti Metoyer also had an efficient day offensively, tallying ten kills on .471 swinging to go with six blocks to match a season high.
TaKenya Stafford and
Ahzhi Coleman followed with six kills apiece while the freshman duo of
Payton Swinton (four kills) and
Deviana Walker (three kills) chipped in offensively. Walker also had four blocks, also marking a new season high.
Kahea Carvalho and
Azul Pilahg combined for 39 of the team's 41 kills with Carvalho acing the Hawks seven times while adding three digs. Carvalho had 20 assists to lead the offense to a .386 hitting percentage while
Coco Figueroa led all players with 16 digs, helping hold UMES to .111 hitting percentage.
In the opening set, UMES overcame a slow start to take a 14-12 lead before the Eagles came back to tie the score at 16 following kills by Coleman and Stafford, sandwiching a block from Coleman and Swinton. After trading points, the Hawks led for the final time of the frame at 20-19 when Coppin scored the final six points to take the opener. Bertotti Metoyer tied the score at 20 with a kill and closed it out with another while Carvalho tacked on back-to-back aces midway through.
Coppin scored the first six points of the second set with Bertotti Metoyer recording a kill and a pair of blocks during the stretch. UMES scored the next three points to cut the deficit in half before another 5-0 run by the Eagles, highlighted by kills from Walker and Kucuk. The Hawks got no closer than 14-8 the rest of the way as Coppin's final tally matched the largest lead of the set.
The Hawks led early in the third set and held their largest advantage at 8-6 after a kill from Nkemjika Ikemefuna. Bertotti Metoyer and Kuck had kills on a 3-0 CSU run before Ikemefuna tied it up at nine with a kill. It was all Eagles from there as the Navy & Gold scored six of the next seven points with Coleman tallying a pair of kills. UMES cut it back to within 17-14 with a block, but the Eagles regrouped with seven-straight points as Carvalho recorded three aces. Following a service error, Stafford put the match away with a kill.
Coppin will be on the road for three-straight conference matches, starting with South Carolina State on November 1 and NC Central on November 3.
