BALTIMORE (October 30, 2022) - Howard University women's volleyball team fell to Coppin State (CSU) in straight sets (22-25, 11-25, 21-25) Sunday afternoon in their final Beltway battle of the weekend.
 
The Eagles improved to 19-8 on the season (10-1 MEAC) while the Bison fell 15-8 overall and 8-2 in conference. Handing Coppin State their only conference loss earlier this season, HU splits the regular season bill with the Eagles, 1-1.
 
Three-time Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Rookie of the Week Rya McKinnon (Bessemer, Ala.) led the way with a match-leading 10 kills.
 
McKinnon opened the match with an explosive kill and the Bison began to pull away with four unanswered points to take a 10-6 lead.
 
CSU responded with back-to-back kills and tied the contest at 13 apiece before grabbing the upper hand. Inching in on Coppin State's advantage, McKinnon leveled the board, 19-19, with another big kill.
Consecutive attack errors by Howard gave Coppin the needed edge to finish out the set, 25-22.
 
Howard opened the scoring yet again, courtesy of an Eagle service error. The score would remain evenly spaced until two short unanswered runs gave the CSU a 19-10 advantage over the Bison. HU struggled to solidify their attack as Coppin State closed out the set with a 25-11 win.
 
For the first set of the game, Coppin State opened the score with a kill to set the tone. The lead did not last long as senior middle blocker Tamar Wells (Apopka, Fla.) evened the playing field, 4-4. Consecutive errors by CSU gave the Bison a two-point advantage. Capitalizing on the gap, the Bison leaped to a 9-5 lead when senior Essence Bell (Ocala, Fla.) sailed an ace over the net before sending another over, resulting in an attack error by CSU. Coppin State regained the lead on the 14^th point before widening the gap, 17-13. The board was evenly spaced throughout the final scores until two big kills by Coppin State's Miajavon Coleman made it match point. Setting the final nail in the coffin, CSU ended the battle with a kill for a 25-21 set score.
 
Senior setter Kayla Diaz (Nanuet, N.Y.) finished with 25 assists and six digs in the loss.
 
For CSU, Ammaarah Williams flirted with a double-double (10 digs and nine kills).
 
The Bison are back in action Wednesday (Nov. 2) as they host UMBC. Match time is set for 7 p.m. inside The Burr.
 
For more information, visit the Bison Athletics website at www.HUBison.com.