BALTIMORE, Md. – Coppin State rallied late in the fourth set when the Eagles were staring down a loss, and they came away with a 3-2 victory over the Norfolk State volleyball on Friday night at the Physical Education Complex.
 
On a night when NSU was on target with its defense at the net, the Eagles overcame an excess of errors to pull ahead of the Spartans in the MEAC standings. CSU needed rallies in both of the last two sets to win 25-23 and 15-12.
 
The Spartans needed extra points to win the first set, 32-30, and they also took the third set by a 25-21 score for a 2-1 lead in the match. In between, the Eagles earned the victory in the second set, 25-23.
 
CSU closed the fourth set on an 8-1 run after falling behind by five at 22-17. The Eagles also came back in the fifth set after trailing 11-9, winning six of the last seven points of the match.
 
With the win, Coppin State improved to 3-3 in the MEAC and 8-18 overall. Norfolk State fell to 1-5 in the league, 2-14 overall. CSU came into the night owning fourth place in the Northern Division, and only the top four teams advance to the MEAC tournament.
 
The Spartans were unable to capitalize on one of their best blocking performances as a Division I program. They finished with 18 blocks on the night, tied for the most in a match in the last 20 years.
 
Sophomore Jannel Ezeagwu finished with 10 blocks, the most in 10 years and tied for the third-most by a Spartan player in the D-I era. Junior Bojana Bolozan added seven blocks with seven kills and five service aces.
 
They helped the Spartans double up the Eagles in blocks for the match, 18-9. Junior Anna Rupertova had four service aces as she and Bolozan helped the Spartans double up the Eagles in service aces as well, 12-6.
 
Norfolk State hit .155 for the match and committed 13 less hitting errors than CSU. The Eagles, however, connected on 14 more kills in a match in which they outscored the Spartans by just one in terms of total points over all five sets.
 
Rupertova had 15 kills and nine digs and hit .310 for NSU.
 
Miajavon Coleman totaled 22 kills while hitting .321 for the Eagles with seven digs and five blocks.
 
Both teams used runs throughout the match to swing momentum, none more important than the Eagles in those last two sets. The Spartans actually did first, landing six in a row for an 11-6 edge after the Eagles had went up 5-3. They eventually tied the score at 14-14, but the Spartans again had an answer.
 
They got points from several different players as they won seven of the next nine to go up by five. But Coleman and Christa Johnson combined for five kills for the Eagles in the closing 8-1 run.
 
The Spartans called timeout down 4-1 in the fifth set. They battled back down 7-4, getting two kills from Rupertova and a kill and a block from Ezeagwu during a 6-1 run. But down 11-9, the Eagles got an ace and kill from Brianna Lang and two more kills from Coleman to complete the comeback.
 
The match started off with a wild first set, one in which the teams combined to hold off set serve seven times. But before it got to that point, NSU won six in a row early on for an 11-8 lead. The Eagles pushed ahead by an 18-15 margin before the Spartans won seven of the next eight for a 22-19 lead.
 
But the Eagles rallied, and four times they held off set serve by the Spartans, who finally ended it on a solo block by Ezeagwu.
 
They used that momentum to go up 7-2 in the second set. But the Eagles took control in the middle of the set, pushing ahead by a four-point margin. They led 22-17 before NSU made a mini run to close the gap at the end.
 
But again, the Spartans jumped out to an early lead, this time 7-3 in the third set. And again the Eagles came back, going ahead 10-9 and then later 14-12. Rupertova had four kills as the Spartans won seven of the next nine to force a CSU timeout. Three different Spartan players had kills as NSU turned a 20-20 tie into a 25-21 win for a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Eichelberger ended the night with 11 kills and 10 digs, one of three double-doubles for NSU. Juniors Halley McKnight (21 assists, 11 digs) and Jill Aquino (17 assists, 13 digs) also accomplished the feat.
 
Sophomores Jazmine Craig (11 digs) and Quiana Griffin (five blocks, five kills) also pitched in.
 
Asia Stennis totaled 15 kills and eight digs, and Lang added 54 assists and 16 digs. Johnson had seven blocks as well.
 
NSU will stay in Baltimore to play at Morgan State on Sunday at 3 p.m.