MORGANTOWN, W.V. – TaKenya Stafford led all players with 15 kills and the Eagles hit a season-high .395 as Coppin State's volleyball team swept North Dakota, 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-16) on Friday afternoon at WVU Coliseum. The Eagles improved to 2-3 on the season while the Fighting Hawks fell to 0-4.
A senior from Los Angeles, Calif., Stafford hit .481 with just two errors on 27 swings. Stafford added an ace and led the Eagles with three blocks.
Cherisse Atilano continued her strong play with nine kills on .333 swinging to go with eight digs, four aces and a pair of assists.
Ahzhi Coleman,
Ayanna Pharoah and
Kayden Cupid had six kills apiece with the trio hitting a combined .484. Cupid hit an errorless .857 on seven swings while Coleman blocked a pair of attempts.
Andrea Serrano (16 assists/eight digs) and
Azul Pilahg (15 assists/seven digs) combined for 31 assists and 15 digs as the Eagles outhit the Hawks, .395 to .195.
Coco Figueroa also had four assists to go with a match-high nine digs.
Coppin never trailed in the first two sets and scored the first six points of the match which included a pair of kills from Atilano. When UND got on the board with a kill, the Eagles went on another 4-0 run as Atilano, Stafford and Serrano had kills. The Hawks got no closer than 14-9 and were unable to put together back-to-back points the rest of the frame.
The second set started much like the first with Coppin scoring the first five points on two points apiece by Atilano and Stafford. North Dakota got back to within, 10-9, but Coppin stopped the run with four-straight kills, all coming from different players. Stafford helped the Eagles pull away later in the set with a pair of points on another 4-0 run before a kill from Cupid gave Coppin a 2-0 lead in the match.
North Dakota started the third with two-straight points and held its final lead at 3-2 before the Eagles came back with a 6-0 run. The Hawks stopped the drought with a block, but Coppin came right back with another 5-1 run which included back-to-back combo blocks from Coleman and Stafford. Once again, the Eagles prevented UND from sustaining any momentum and easily took the third as the Hawks hit just .067 in the set.
CSU closes out the WVU Invitational when it faces the host Mountaineers at 1 pm on Saturday, September 6.
