By Roscoe Nance
Watch Match Live on BTN2Go
Howard University hopes familiarity will breed success as the Bison face Penn State on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Championships in State College, Pa.
It will be the third meeting between the Bison and the Nittany Lions (23-7), the No. 8 seeds, in the past year and the fourth in the last four seasons. Friday’s match will be a rematch of a 2017 first-round match up that Howard lost 3-1. The Bison lost, but it was the first time since 1989 that Penn State, which has qualified for all 38 NCAA Championships that have been played, lost a set in a first round match.
The teams also played each other during the 2018 regular season; the Nittany Lions, ranked No. 7 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, won that meeting 3-0 on Howard’s home court.
They also squared off in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Championship, which was Howard’s maiden voyage in postseason play.
The Nittany Lions won 3-0.
“The intimidation factor is gone,’’ said Howard head coach Shaun Kupferberg. “We’re not intimidated by them anymore. We’re not in that situation anymore like we were maybe four years ago. We’ve played them a lot. We know what they do; we know how good they are, how impressive they are. We’re also not scared, and we’re not overly excited about the possibility. I felt a couple of times it was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. We’re playing Penn State, one of the cornerstones of volleyball in the U.S.’ Now it’s more of a work trip. We know we can get to them; we’ve done it last year and earlier this year. We competed against them.’’
The Bison had 40 kills versus Penn State, while the Nittany Lions only had 33 when they met on Sept. 14.
“We just made too many errors,’’ Kupferberg said. “We’ve got to clean that side of it up. We can compete with them. Question is, can we be consistent enough to win? It has turned into another match instead of a special match.’’
The Bison (20-10) enter the NCAA Tournament on a roll after winning their fourth consecutive MEAC tournament championship. They have won four straight matches and 15 of their last 17. That hot streak, combined with how well the Bison played the previous two matches against Penn State makes Kupferberg optimistic, but not necessarily confident ahead of Friday’s match.
“Honestly, I’m not confident at all,’’ he said. “I don’t think anyone in our program is. We’ve got a lot of young people playing a lot of important positions, and we’re growing and we’re developing, What I can say is when we’re playing our best, we’re scary. Not many people have seen us playing at our best. In the gym this week, we’ve been playing better than we’ve played all week. We’re really athletic and really physical when that happens. Nobody has seen that this year. It’s exciting to think of what could happen. But at the same time, you have to understand they’re champions for reason. They’re there for reason. It’s not going to be easy. They’re not going to make mistakes. Their consistency is a huge thing. They’ve played in a lot more big games than we have. We just have to develop a little bit quicker than we expect. Hopefully, we’ll have a good night and they’re able to execute.’’
Howard’s roster includes four freshmen and eight sophomores. But it the team’s senior tri-captains – setter Tamia Dockery, outside hitter Courtney Dalton and middle blocker Olubunmi Okunade – who give the Bison direction.
Dockery is the 2018 MEAC Player of the Year after leading the conference in assists with a 10.3 per set average overall and 11.26 in conference play. She had 10 double-doubles, and her 21 matches with at least 30 assists also led the MEAC. She had a season-best 54 assists against Maryland Eastern Shore.
“She’s one of those players who sort of stepped up and took care of business this year,’’ Kupferberg said. “She leads by example. She’s a great player. She’s vastly underrated as far as I’m concerned, even though she’s the MEAC Player of the Year. That doesn’t do her justice. She’s the key piece to everything we do. She’s big piece to the puzzle.’’
Junior outside hitter Kira Porter has come on strong this season and was the Most Outstanding Performer at the MEAC Championships.
“Kira stepped into a leadership role this year,’’ Kupferberg said. “She’s always been a quiet, shy member of the team, a little in the background. She really stepped forward and had some crucial points when we were at sort of a crossroad of OK, are we going to fold and collapse into an average team or are we going to be something special. She sort of keyed everybody’s but in gear and said the right things. She was able to stand up and be vocal at a time when we needed it. She’s become really efficient.’’