PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Eagles of Coppin State fell to the No. 1 Panthers of Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament Friday night at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Friday evening.
Coppin State as a team was held to just 14 kills in the match with Laila Ibrahim leading the Eagles with five. Ammaarah Williams had the next highest total with four kills. Ibrahim also led the team in blocks with four while Williams led in digs with six. Andrea Tsvetanoa tallied 11 assists along with two service aces.
The match began with the Eagles opening on a 6-2 run with a pair of kills from Laila Ibrahim and one from Ammaarah Williams as well as a double block from Ibrahim and Paola Caten. Pittsburgh came back to even the score at seven all on a 5-1 run that included four kills and a service ace. The score knotted up twice more before the Panthers went on a 4-0 run taking a 13-9 lead over the Eagles. CSU cut the PITT lead to one point, 13-12 on another block from Ibrahim and Caten, but the Panthers answered with a 6-0 run taking the 19-12 lead. The Eagles clawed their way back within four points, trailing 21-17, however the Panthers closed out the opening set on a 4-1 run to win 25-18 and take the match lead 1-0.
Set two opened in a similar way as the first set except that the Panthers were the team that opened on the 6-2 run. Pittsburgh continued to pull away leading by seven points, 11-4, before an ace from Coco Figueroa fell for the Eagles to slow the Panther run. PITT held a seven-point lead, 16-9, following a Williams attack error, but CSU managed to put a string of three points together to close the gap to five-points, 16-11, after a pair of Pittsburgh errors and a kill from Caten. Coppin State would score just three more points the remainder of the set as Pittsburgh went on a 9-3 rally to win set two with a score of 25-14 and take the 2-0 match lead.
The Panthers continued to carry their momentum from sets one and two in set three as they opened the game on a 5-1 run. The Eagles scored on a kill from Ibrahim and a pair of Panther errors to pull within two points, 6-4, however Pittsburgh scored four consecutive points to reclaim a six-point lead. 10-4 forcing a timeout for Coppin State. PITT’s run continued with six more points putting the score at 16-4 before a double block from Geraldyn Palacios and Hope Casel stopped the Panther attack. Pittsburgh continued their dominant performance with four more points taking a 20-5 lead. Coppin State made a little wave scoring three of the next four points on a kill from Palacios, an Andrea Tsvetanova service ace, and a PITT error, that put the score at 21-8. The Panthers went on a 4-1 run to close out the match and advance to the next round of the NCAA Tournament.
Coppin State’s season comes to a close with an overall record of 27-5, capping the best season in program history.