BALTIMORE – Deviana Walker led all players with 13 kills to lead Coppin State's volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-23) on Friday night at PEC Arena. Extending their win streak to a program-record 13 straight matches, the Eagles improved to 14-5 overall and 5-0 in the MEAC.
A junior from Odenton, Md., Walker hit .333 on 27 swings, committing just four errors while adding a block and two digs. Walker was followed by a trio of teammates with eight kills in
Cherisse Atilano,
Ivanna Luna and
Kendall Minta. Minta added a team-high four blocks while Atilano added five digs, an ace and a block.
Eva Rovello set up the offense to a .294 hitting percentage with 36 assists on the team's 48 kills. She added five digs, four aces, four kills and a pair of blocks as well.
Coco Figueroa led the backrow with nine digs and an ace, holding the Hawks to a .123 hitting percentage. In her lone set,
Rori Gray tallied four kills on four swings while adding a solo block and
McKenzie Parks added three kills with a pair of blocks.
Coppin turned an early deficit into an 18-16 advantage with a 5-0 run midway through the first set. Rovello had back-to-back aces to tie the set at 16 before a kill from Walker gave the Eagles its first lead. CSU began to pull away with another four-straight points which was capped off with a kill from Minta before Luna's set-clinching kill.
Coppin led the second from start to finish, starting with a 3-0 run to open the set. UMES got to within 10-8 before Coppin ran off four-straight points which included two kills and a block from Walker. The Hawks were only able to put back-to-back points together one other time during the frame and Coppin scored four-straight points to win the second.
Maryland Eastern Shore rallied from small deficits in the third to take a 17-13 lead before Coppin regrouped. The Eagles regained the advantage at 20-19 following Rovello's fourth ace of the match before UMES tied the score at 20. Gray took over down the stretch for the Eagles, coming right back with two-straight kills and a block to extend CSU's lead to 23-20. She added another kill following two-straight Hawks points before Minta and Atilano combined for a block to clinch the sweep.
Coppin heads to Delaware State for a 1pm MEAC matchup on Sunday, October 11 on the MEAC Network.
