Box Score BALTIMORE, Md. – Down 2-0, Coppin State stormed back and stunned the Norfolk State volleyball team on Sunday afternoon in a 3-2 victory over the Spartans at the Physical Education Complex.

The Spartans were seemingly in control after winning the first two sets, 25-19 and 25-23. The Eagles, coming off another stunner on Friday when they knocked off the top team in the MEAC in Hampton, instead made it a contest by winning the next two sets, 25-19 and 25-13.

Coppin State overcame an early deficit in the fifth set to win 15-11 and improve to 5-4 in the MEAC. The Spartans saw their record drop to the same 5-4 mark. Both teams saw their overall records move to 9-15.

The loss, coupled with Morgan State's win over Hampton on Sunday, puts Coppin State, Morgan State and Norfolk State into a three-way tie for third place in the Northern Division behind Hampton (7-2) and Howard (5-2). Only the top four teams advance to the MEAC tournament.

NSU was again led by its senior duo of Goda Jankauskaite and Coralie Jarema. Jankauskaite led all players with 21 kills, while Jarema hit .552 and totaled 18 kills.

NSU's offense, though, hit just .130 with 37 attack errors, while the Eagles had four players in double figures in kills and attacked at a .252 clip.

Despite letting Coppin State get back into the match, NSU won four of the first five points of the fifth set to force an Eagle timeout. They came out of that break and won seven of the next nine to take a two-point lead over NSU, 8-6. Kills from Jarema helped NSU tie it back up, but CSU's Ariel Richard had three kills in a four-serve span, and a few more tallies for the Eagles completed their full comeback.

Richard and Kandace Thomas had 12 and 11 kills, respectively, for CSU and combined for 10 blocks to give the Eagles an overall 9-4 edge in that category for the match.

Jarema had nine kills on nine swings, and Jankauskaite added seven kills as NSU got going after a slow start to the first set. The Spartans called timeout after just three serves and fell behind by an 11-8 score. Kills from Jankauskaite and several errors on CSU during a 10-2 NSU run put the Spartans up by five. Jarema had five kills within a seven-serve span to help NSU pull away.

Jankauskaite had eight kills in the second set. After Norfolk State won four of the first five points, the teams traded the lead several times before NSU took a two-point lead, 13-11. Jankauskaite had the answer several times after CSU scored, and a service ace from sophomore Jessica Johnson pushed the lead to 22-17.

Up 23-18, the Spartans watched as Coppin State went on a 5-1 run before Jarema put an end to that comeback.

The Eagles did keep it going in the third, jumping out to a 10-4 lead before Johnson had three kills during a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to one. The Eagles pushed the lead back up to five, but several errors on CSU allowed NSU to get to within two, 20-18. Coppin State won five of the last six points of the set to stay alive.

Coppin State held an 11-3 lead in the fourth set, and only once in the entire stanza did NSU win two straight points.

Cindy Okpegbue led Coppin State with 14 kills, while Denali Sturgeon added 12 kills and nine digs.

Sophomore Darcy Moore tallied 51 assists for NSU, and redshirt junior Noelle Eagles led all players with 17 digs.

The Spartans will host their final contest of the year with Senior Night next Friday against Howard at Gill Gymnasium starting at 7 p.m.