By Steven Kramer, Sports Information Coppin State,
DOVER, Del. – Coppin State’s volleyball team advanced to the MEAC Championship Match with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18) victory over Maryland Eastern Shore in the Semifinals on Saturday night on the campus of Delaware State University. The Eagles improved to a program-best 26-4 on the season and will face the winner of Howard/Delaware State on ESPNU on Sunday, November 19 at 8:30.
Laila Ibrahim led the way with 11 kills on .421 swinging while adding a match-high five blocks to break the CSU single-season record for total blocks (106). Hope Casel added eight kills and a pair of blocks, followed by Ammaarah Williams with seven, Paola Caten with six , TaKenya Stafford with five and Geraldyn Palacios with four. Palacios and Caten combined to hit .476 with five blocks and did not commit an error.
Andrea Tsvetanova had a match-high 17 assists while splitting time at setter with Andrea Serrano (ten assists). Ashley Roman added seven assists and two aces from her libero position and led all players with 14 digs as Coppin outhit the Hawks, .228 to .115.
Stafford was credited with ten digs while Tsvetanova finished with seven and Williams with six.
Set 1
- Coppin got out to a fast start with a 5-1 run with Ibrahim recording two kills and a block.
- The Hawks got as close as 5-3 but the Eagles controlled the set the rest of the way.
- Another 5-1 run by Coppin extended its lead to 14-7 as a kill from Caten and a block from Ibrahim and Stafford bookended three Hawk errors.
- At one point, the Navy & Gold doubled up UMES, 20-10 and they led 24-15 following the second kill of the set by Stafford.
- UMES called timeout and scored four-straight before committing a service error.
Set 2
- The Hawks led early on but Coppin battled back and to take a small lead before scoring four-straight to take a 15-11 lead.
- UMES scored four-straight to tie the score at 15, but after trading points, CSU scored three-straight with kills from Ibrahim and Williams sandwiching an ace by Roman.
- Eastern Shore got to within a single point before Willams stopped the run with a kill. Williams then aced the Hawks and the Eagles took the set following back-to-back blocks by Caten, Palacios and Ibrahim.
Set 3
- The Hawks led 11-7 but Coppin scored five of the next six points to tie the score at 12 with a pair of kills from Ibrahim and one from Williams highlighting the spurt.
- CSU used another 6-1 run with kills by four different players to go on top, 18-14, but UMES stayed in it with two-straight points.
- Williams recorded a kill and the Eagles forced an error to go up, 20-16, forcing a Hawks timeout.
- The Hawks scored on a controversial call as a serve the by the Eagles went off a UMES passer, bounced off a ventilation shaft, and a Hawks player tagged the ball over the net while the Eagles were celebrating a potential ace.
- Stafford silenced the opposition with a thunderous kill followed by a solo block from Ibrahim which broke Indira Laurencin’s previous record for blocks from the 2006 season.
- The Hawks then recorded a kill before Coppin finished them off with kills from Caten and Casel.
