Volleyball | 8/30/2024 6:02:00 PM

QUEENS, N.Y. – Coppin State's volleyball team, coming off its first-ever MEAC Title and NCAA Tournament appearance, swept both Northeastern and Central Connecticut State in the opening day of the season-opening Red Storm Invitational, hosted by St. John's on Friday at Carnesecca Arena. 
 
Coppin State def. Northeastern, 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-23)
 
Setters Kahea Carvalho and Azul Pilahg combined for 32 assists in their Eagles debuts with Carvalho recording career-highs in both assists (17) and digs (17) for a double-double. TaKenya Stafford also notched a double-double with a match-high 13 kills along with 11 digs.
 
Ayanna Pharoah and Gabriela Zuquelo added nine kills apiece, with Pharoah hitting a team-high .467 on 15 swings and smashing her career-high after recording just two kills in her career coming into the match. Pharoah also had a career-high three blocks while Zuquelo had a great all-around match in her debut with nine digs as well.
 
Middle Hitters Sophia Bertotti Metoyer and McKenzie Parks both had five kills in their Coppin debuts and Bertotti Metoyer led the Eagles with four blocks.
 
In the back row, Coco Figueroa tallied eight digs with seven assists, followed by Pilahg with seven digs.  Figueroa also served a pair of aces.
 
The Eagles outhit Northeastern, .163 to .130 while tallying 45 kills to the Huskies' 34 kills. Coppin dug up 59 Northeastern attempts.
 
In the opening set, Coppin took control with a 5-1 run late in the frame and turned a narrow 17-16 lead into a commanding 22-17 advantage. Pharoah had the opening kill as CSU recorded three-straight and she added another during the stretch. Zuquelo, Stafford and Ezgi Kucuk added kills to pick up the win.
 
Coppin looked to be in control of set two from the start, but Northeastern clawed back and took its first lead at 21-20 and again at 24-23. Stafford tied it up with a kill before Pharoah and Bertotti Metoyer gave Coppin back the lead with a block. Stafford then finished the Huskies off with a kill.
 
Northeastern got out strong in the third before Coppin regrouped to take a 11-10 lead.  The Huskies bounced back with three-straight points and held a 21-19 advantage later in the frame. Parks cut the deficit to a single point and the Eagles defense forced three-straight errors to go up 23-21.  Kucuk and Stafford then blasted kills to give Coppin the victory in the season opener.
 
Coppin State def. Central Connecticut State (25-23, 25-21, 25-18)
 
TaKenya Stafford and Gabriela Zuquelo both had a match-high 11 kills while hitting a combined .370 to lead the attack while Sophia Bertotti Metoyer hit an errorless .538 with seven kills on 13 swings. Stafford, who hit .450 on 20 attempts, just missed on a double-double with nine digs while Zuquelo added six.
 
McKenzie Parks added four fills, followed by Ayanna Pharoah and Deviana Walker with three kills apiece. Parks, Pharoah and Stafford all had two blocks each.
 
Kahea Carvalho upped her career-high in assists to 19 while adding six digs and a pair of aces while Azul Pilahg added eight assists. In the back row, Coco Figueroa had a match-high 12 digs along with five assists and three aces.
 
Coppin hit an impressive .258 while holding the Blue Devils to .144 swinging with 40 digs and five blocks.
 
The Eagles overcame an 8-3 deficit to take the opening set after fighting back to tie the score at 15. Central Connecticut regrouped and extended its lead back to 20-16 but Coppin went on a 7-2 run to take its first lead since the opening point as Zuquelo had two kills and a solo block. The Blue Devils tied it at 23 with a kill before Zuquelo answered with one of her own. After a timeout, Coppin forced an error to take the set.
 
Carvalho opened the second set with an ace but Central Connecticut answered with six of the next seven points to go up, 6-2. Coppin scored nine-straight points with Stafford tallying four kills during the run and the Eagles never looked back to take it, 25-21.
 
Coppin led from start to finish, scoring the first six points with three-straight kills by Zuquelo, an ace by Carvalho and a block from Parks and Pharoah. Following back-to-back points by the Blue Devils, the Eagles went on another 5-0 run. CSU utilized nearly the entire roster in the frame, getting key points from Ivanka Sikiric and Aya Rawlins before Parks put the match away with a kill.
 
Up Next: Coppin wraps up the Red Storm Invitational when they take on host St. John's in a 1:00 pm start on Saturday, August 31 at Carnesecca Arena.  The match will air live on FloSports with live stats available on www.coppinstatesports.com.