BALTIMORE – Coppin State's volleyball team hit a season-high .402 in a 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-13) MEAC victory over Norfolk State on Sunday afternoon at PEC Arena. The Eagles improved to 8-9 overall and 2-0 in league play while the Spartans fell to 1-14 on the year, and 0-2 in the MEAC.
Recording 45 kills, Coppin made just ten attacking errors on 87 attempts to hit .402, its best mark in a match since a 3-0 win at Morgan State on November 15, 2024, when it hit .464.
TaKenya Stafford led all players with 15 kills and made just one error on 28 attempts to hit .500 on the day. A redshirt senior from Los Angeles, Calif., Stafford added seven digs, a block and an ace for 16.5 total points.
Kayden Cupid (four),
McKenzie Parks (three) and
Andrea Cintron (one) all were perfect on their swings with Cupid matching
Ivanna Luna with a team-high three blocks. Luna also hit an impressive .429 with four kills on seven swings.
Cherisse Atilano hit .294 with seven kills on 17 attempts along with a pair of aces. She also matched
Coco Figueroa with a team-high ten digs while Figueroa notched a double-double with 12 assists and an ace.
Cintron (16) and
Azul Pilahg (ten) combined for 26 assists and ten digs while Cintron added three aces.
In the opening set, Coppin was unable to pull away from the Spartans who held a 17-15 lead following an 8-2 run. Atilano responded with a kill and an ace before NSU tied the set at 19. The Eagles were able to get back to a 22-21 lead and held off the Green & Gold with a kill from Stafford and back-to-back kills from Atilano.
Coppin took control early in set two with six of the first eight points. After trading side outs, the Eagles scored five-straight to take a commanding 13-5 advantage. The Spartans answered with their own 5-0 run before CSU pulled away with six-straight with back-to-back aces from Cintron.
NSU led 5-4 early in the third, but it was all Eagles from there as kills from Cupid and Stafford bookended a 6-0 run. The Spartans got no closer than 12-8 the rest of the way as Coppin closed it out with 13 of the final 18 points.
The Eagles will host NC Central and South Carolina State on October 5-6, with both matches airing on ESPN+. The Battle of the Eagles will start at 1 o'clock on Sunday, followed by a 6 pm Monday night clash against the Bulldogs.
