Coppin State 3, Morgan State 1
BALTIMORE, Md. (Oct. 31, 2010)-It's been said that eventually all good things will come to an end, and on this Halloween evening that's exactly what would happen.
For the past 20 years the Morgan State volleyball team has held a stranglehold on Coppin State.
During that span there have been six different Presidents of the United States of America, three of which were in office for eight years apiece. The last time Coppin State defeated Morgan State was in 1990, following a forfeit victory on Sept. 15, 1990. Prior to that, seven days earlier, the Eagles handed Morgan a 3-2 loss in the AU Tri-Match hosted by American. That year the average price for a gallon of gas cost $1.14 and some of the top movies in 1990 included The Matrix, Men In Black, Terminator 2 and Forrest Gump.
Entering Sunday's contest Morgan State held a 51-3 all-time advantage over its crosstown rival and had won 45-straight matches against Coppin State.
But the streak would all come to an end, as Ashley Saunders tallied a match-high 19 kills to lead visiting Coppin State to a 3-1 (25-19, 16-25, 25-21, 27-25) victory over Morgan State in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) North Division match on Sunday evening at Hill Field House.
With the win, Coppin State (5-19, 2-6 MEAC) recorded back-to-back MEAC victories for the first time in over four seasons and more importantly, ended its 45-match losing skid to Morgan State.
The Lady Bears (5-18, 3-5 MEAC), who have now lost all seven of their home matches this season, were led by Dominique Bozier, who finished with 14 kills, a match-high .385 hitting percentage and a team-high two blocks. Erin Cox added 12 kills, while Dina Beamon totaled a match-high 27 digs and collected a team-high four service aces. Jourdan Lemons finished with 36 assists.
In what had already been a wild weekend of MEAC volleyball in the north division with three-time defending north division champion Maryland Eastern Shore having its conference-long winning streak of 36 matches snapped by Delaware State; to Coppin State ending its MEAC consecutive losing streak of 36 matches by defeating Hampton, perhaps this too was destined to happen.
One might blame it on the eeriness of Halloween. Perhaps it was the lack of lighting with all the lights that are missing or the flickering of a scoreboard which kept cutting on and off. Both of which added to the essence of Halloween. Or maybe on this day Coppin State simply played harder than the host Lady Bears.
The Eagles entered the match confident following their win on Friday. They executed and took advantage of their opportunities when they needed to and that confidence continued to grow after each set, even when the Lady Bears tied the match at one apiece heading into the intermission.
Going into the fourth and final set leading 2-1, the Eagles jumped out to a 9-3 advantage, following a kill by Yolanda Reid. The Lady Bears countered with an 8-2 run to even the score at 11 all, the second of 14 ties in the match. Morgan State looked like they were on the verge of forcing a fifth and deciding set when a kill by Bozier put the Lady Bears up 24-23. However, the guests would tie the score on an attack error by Morgan State and later took a 26-25 lead on Christina Epps's kill. Saunders then closed out the match with her match-high fifth service ace, giving Coppin State the 27-25 victory.
Coppin State finished with 47 kills on 142 attempts and 22 errors for a hitting percentage of .176. Tyler Phillips notched a team-high 19 digs, while Vanity Massey added 14 digs. Haley Beechler notched 37 assists and added 13 digs to record a double-double. Reid finished with a match-high five blocks, helping Coppin State to an 8.0-3.0 block advantage over Morgan State.
The host Lady Bears totaled 43 kills on 158 attempts and committed 29 attack errors for a hitting percentage of .089.
The Lady Bears are off until Friday, Nov. 5, when they travel to Dover, Del. to take on the Hornets of Delaware State. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at Memorial Hall.
