Big serves push Howard to sweep of Coppin volleyball

Howard junior right side Tosin Ellebute nails one of her seven aces to lead Howard to a sweep of Coppin State at the PEC on October 24.

by Keith Henry

Simply put, Coppin State volleyball pushed themselves into a tough situation on October 24. They also had help from Howard junior right side Tosin Elebute, whose seven service aces aided a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-20) Lady Bison victory over CSU at the PEC.

Howard head coach Dawn Barnes said, "I think we came out of the gates fired up right away. We just played well as a team. We capitalized on a lot of things that we didn't do in the last game (with Coppin). We served aggressively. that was one of the main things i told the girls that we needed to do. We needed to have other players besides Tosin in double digits or scoring offense for us."

It started well for Coppin State (3-19, 0-6 MEAC) as they stormed off to an 11-7 advantage early in the first game. But the Lady Eagles' serving gaffes got them in trouble again. Haley Beechler's serve hit the net, triggering a 6-1 Howard run. Ashley Briner smashed a ball wide, Taylor Johnson pounded a kill, Johnson and Gabrielle Martin blocked a kill attempt from Christina Epps. Coppin countered with a kill from Ashley Saunders. Yolanda Reid was called for a double contact and Elebute pounded down a kill to give the Lady Bison a 13-12 advantage.

CSU head coach Romonzo Beans stated the difference in their two matches with Howard was, "Errors. 11 serves that we missed. I mean they were just giving away points. But you can't always focus on the negative. I was looking for the girls to come into the positive on hitting. They did, but we didn't do certain things. You got to pass the balls. You got to pass them well and we weren't passing at the level that we needed to be doing. We had a good opportunity tonight. Howard was down some people. They stepped up their game to compensate. Going after the people that we need to go after, we didn't go after them hard enough."

After a kill from Beechler tied the score at 13, Elebute put on a show. She started with a kill, then her topspin jump serve gave her three consecutive service aces as the balls landed near the back line twice and then a shanked pass occurred, prompting a Coppin timeout. Coppin State head coach Romonzo Beans said, "It's a nice serve. I wish I was out on the court. But I love a topspin ball. It should be something that they should adjust to a lot quicker than what they did. (There are) a lot of young faces out there that needs to be able to make those adjustments. You got to have some tough skin out there sometimes. it's a learning experience."

Barnes said, "Tosin played very, very well. I'm pleased that we served the ball better this time around than we did in the last game."

Even after the timeout, Howard kept up the assault as Elebute put down another kill and then served another ace to give Howard (5-17, 2-3 MEAC) a 19-13 lead. Coppin never threatened again in the game.

Elebute hurt Coppin some more in the second game as the Bison overcame a 9-7 Coppin lead and eventually broke that game as well. Three consecutive aces from Tosin gave Howard a 22-14 advantage that Coppin wasn't able to overcome. "I felt like they really came to play. But we were focused on being so aggressive to the point that we were swinging as hard as we could at everything. Especially on our serves too, just take them out of system. That's what we're focusing on."

After the second intermission, Coppin State was finally able to handle Tosin's jump serve. But by that time, Coppin errors, and a couple of kills each from Elebute and Keri Partridge turned a 10-8 Coppin lead into a 16-13 Howard advantage. A service error from Elebute drew the Lady Eagles within 16-14, but they got no closer than two points as Howard maintained their momentum and were able to close out the match on a Jiyana Brown ace.

On the positive side, Coppin State achieved their highest team hitting percentage of the season recording a .229 this night. Saunders led Coppin with 10 kills and nine digs and hit for a .364 hitting percentage. Vanity Massey recorded a .385 hitting percentage to lead the Lady Eagles. They still have work to do in order to qualify for the MEAC Tournament. Beans said, "Coach Beth pointed out to them what they had to strive to do per set. A quota they had to fill. I think that was one of the things that drove them on to bring ur percentages up. But everything has got to be fine at the same time. Hitting percentage is great, but my defense has got to be that much better. I've been there. Defense wins (matches). I know that. Having a couple of bangers doesn't hurt either. It's coming. So i'm looking forward to it. This is definitely a program to look out for."

Elebute led Howard with 13 kills and seven digs to go along with those aces. Gazelle d'Artois followed up with 10 kills for the Lady Bison.

The Lady Eagles are in serious danger of missing the MEAC Volleyball Tournament for the third consecutive season. In order to qualify, they'll have to win out and get a little help. Beans knows the keys to getting the ladies back in the groove, saying, "The hitting percentages are up, but our passing has to come back on. It never hurts to go back to some basics. Really focus on getting grounded again and focus on those techniques."

Howard got right back into the tournament conversation with their win. they're a game behind Morgan State, who they tangle with at Hill Field House on October 29. Barnes was happy about this saying, "Obviously, we want to be coming back here on November 19th. So we have to just keep playing smart volleyball and go on from there."