Sept. 8, 2010
Box Score
EASTON, Pa. - Senior co-captain Kayly Elmer and sophomore Sarah Frohnapfel each recorded double-doubles to lead the Lafayette volleyball team to a 3-1 victory over Coppin State on Wednesday night. The Leopards dropped the first set to the visiting Eagles, but got stronger as the match wore on en route to a win by set scores of 24-26, 25-21, 25-18 and 25-16.
With the victory, Lafayette extends its winning streak to three matches and evens its overall record at 3-3. Coppin State remains winless at 0-8.
Elmer led all players with a Leopards' season-high 22 kills. She also notched 12 digs to round out her third double-double of the 2010 campaign. Frohnapfel's double-double, which consisted of a match-best 38 assists and 10 digs, was also her third of the year. Both starting middle blockers, senior co-captain Katrina Racibarskas and junior Alana Taylor, had eight kills as Lafayette his .184 (49-23-141) as a team. Sophomore Kaitlynn Zoller added five kills, and junior Mary Cunning tacked on three finishers. Frohnapfel, sophomore Alexandra Russo and junior Christy Mebust capped the Leopards' attack with one kill apiece.
The Lafayette defense held Coppin State to just a .066 (37-28-137) hitting percentage, including a -.125 (5-9-32) clip in the fourth and final set. Mebust and freshman libero Mackenzie Larsen paced the effort with 17 digs each. Mebust also landed four aces, with Frohnapfel, Larsen and sophomore Fiorella Bellini each dropping in one.
The two squads were never separated by more than three points in set one, as the score rose to a 23-23 deadlock. Coppin State would earn the next point, but a ball-handling error knotted the score again at 24-24. The Eagles would be the first team to string together consecutive points, however, as kills from Alexandria Malesick and Vanity Massey gave the visiting team an early advantage with a 26-24 set-one win.
Set two begun just as set one ended, with the two teams racing out to a 12-12 stalemate. At that point, the Leopards won five consecutive rallies, fueled by tough serves from Mebust and a pair of Elmer kills, to take a 17-12 lead. Neither team would tie together more than two straight tallies from that point on, as a Cunning kill closed out the set with Lafayette taking a 25-21 win to tie the match at 1-1.
The Leopards won seven of the first eight points to open set three, but the Eagles battled back to tie the score at 10-10. Four points later, an ace from Coppin State's Ashley Saunders ran the deadlock to 12-12, but that service ace would be the last time that the visitors scored on their serve in the set. Lafayette slowly but surely pulled away with two-point runs and closed out the set with a 25-18 win.
Coppin State started set four on the offensive with three straight points, but two consecutive aces from Mebust sparked a 9-1 run that spotted Lafayette a five-point advantage that it would not relinquish. The Eagles climbed back to within just one point at 14-13 but could not score the equalizing tally as the Leopards pulled away to take a 25-16 win and close out a 3-1 victory.
