Andrea Tsvetanova has come a long way to help Coppin State volleyball post its best season ever.
And neither her journey, nor that of her battle-tested Eagles, is over after a second MEAC regular-season crown in the last three years and a school-record 21 wins. The road ahead includes the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament. No. 1 seed Coppin State opens Nov. 18 in Dover, Del., against South Carolina State at 11:30 a.m.
The Eagles are seeking their first MEAC volleyball title and trip to the NCAA Tournament.
For Tsvetanova, a senior planning to come back to Coppin next year, her path began far away in her native Sofia, Bulgaria, the daughter of a professional volleyball player. Andrea loved the game, loved the travel, and wanted to keep playing so much that her trek wound all the way to Western Nebraska Community College (Scottsbluff, Neb.).
Scottsbluff may not be the end of the world, but Tsvetanova could probably see it from there.
“I did get tired of being in a small town,” she said. “I’m from a big city in Bulgaria, the capital. There wasn’t much to do [in Nebraska]. We had a Target and a Starbucks, and you could walk around. It was very peaceful, but I was ready for a change.”
And that’s where her Coppin State story began. As a sophomore at Western Nebraska Community College during the spring 2021 season, Tsvetanova led the nation with 1,259 assists and led the Cougars to a regional title and ninth-place finish in the NJCAA National Tournament.
More than 1,600 miles away in Baltimore, Coppin coach Tim Walsh had just wrapped up his fourth season. Now with time to assess what his fifth Eagles team would look like, Walsh set about finding a setter. Armed with huge hopes but little budget, he fired up the laptop and started searching.
“It was after the season was over … and I just started poring over statistics,” he said. “[Tsvetanova] stood out, but I didn’t have the money to bring her here for a visit. We gave her a virtual tour. Everything was FaceTime.”
Walsh must have a good face.
Tsvetanova was sold.
“Coach really got me, that was a big reason to come here,” she said. “When I talked to him the first time and really felt his energy. It was a feeling I just knew this was the right thing to do.”
Tsvetanova has reason to feel good about her decision. She has been a major factor in the 37 victories-and-counting the last two years (the best two-year stretch in school history). This season, she is among national leaders in service aces (first with 90) and total assists (29th with 1,048), good enough to earn MEAC Setter of the Year honors along with Howard’s Kayla Diaz.
“She holds herself to a very high standard,” Walsh explained. “Her mom was a professional player and a setter, as well. She knows the game and is willing to learn and get better every day, which is important.”
Walsh raved about her serve, which is a lot like a major league sinkerball and borderline unfair for opponents trying to handle. Tsvetanova is also so gifted defensively that she could play libero. Her best attribute, though, is more intangible. She facilitates so many talented teammates and she helps create the chemistry that has the Eagles on the prowl headed to postseason.
“I want to be a good teammate,” she said. “I’m very passionate about what I’m doing, and I think the team feeds on that. We grew up a lot in the beginning this season because there were a lot of new girls coming in. The girls that were already here, we were so close that made it easier to make the other girls comfortable. We just bonded right away.”
And began balling out. The team had a seven-match winning streak in September, lost against UMBC, and then reeled off wins in 11 of the next 12 matches. There have been lots of heroes. Senior libero Ashley Roman led the MEAC with 4.77 digs per game. Grad student Miajavon Coleman was third in the conference in kills per set (2.74) and fourth in points per set (3.10).
Grad student Yaniris Miller-Green and junior Geraldyn Palacios have been stellar at the net with 0.79 blocks per set, respectively, to rank fourth and fifth in the conference. Palacios’ .313 hitting percentage is sixth in the MEAC, and grad student Ammaarah Williams is seventh with 2.60 kills per set. That’s a lot of international influence, including Bulgarian Tsvetanova, who led the league in aces and was second with 9.11 assists.
Palacios is from Medellin, Columbia; Roman from Isabela, Puerto Rico, and Miller-Green from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Reigning MEAC Player of the Year Coleman and younger sister Ahzhi Coleman are from San Antonio, and North Carolina Central transfer Williams hails from Cleveland. Walsh has gone all over — at least on the internet — to recruit to Baltimore, building a diverse, veteran squad.
“The chemistry has been really good on and off the court,” he said. “Everyone from freshmen to transfers to graduate students just get along really well off the court and that makes a huge difference when you come to play. We play for each other.”
There’s no doubt that Tsvetanova also plays for her mother, Evelina, who played professionally for 16 years in Europe and took young Andrea with her to Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Russia and Turkey on the volleyball circuit. No wonder Andrea didn’t mind traveling so far to the United States to continue playing.
Evelina, now a coach, was a setter, too, and while she hasn’t seen her daughter play live in the U.S., she never misses a match, steaming the action live despite the seven-hour time difference.
“She watches all my games,” Andrea said. “She stays up late and texts me right away or we talk the next day. She gives me advice and her opinions.”
Mother knows best, Andrea has learned. She has always coached Andrea and still provides valuable input in all areas of the game and about being a high-level athlete.
“She was a setter, too, so I think it’s in my blood,” Andrea joked. “We didn’t always get along when I was younger because I thought she was too critical. We’re both very stubborn.”
Evelina and Andrea’s father, Borislav, stubbornly cling to a dream of attending Senior Night at Coppin next season to see their daughter play in person. That might not be their last chance, either. Andrea hopes to play professionally, too.
Either way, she’ll graduate with a degree in psychology and would love to eventually work with athletes in that capacity or as a clinical psychologist. That’s all in the future, though, much like the exciting prospect of her parents’ pending visit next year. Right now, there’s a lot for Tsvetanova to focus on in the here and now with her teammates.
She’ll be happy to know it includes more travel. And more volleyball.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of Coppin State Athletics