This week the Coastal volleyball team will be taking the court for three matches. The first game will be a home match against UNC Wilmington on Wednesday, Oct 13, at 7 p.m. at Kimbel Arena. From there the volleyball team will be traveling to Asheville, N.C. to take on UNC Asheville on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. Coastal will play one more game this weekend as it travels to Western Carolina to take on the Catamounts at 2 p.m.

Scouting UNC Wilmington

UNC Wilmington arrives at this game 2-12 on the season (0-5 in the Colonial Athletic Association). UNCW comes in on a bit of a losing streak, it has dropped it’s last 10 matches only winning one game in that run. The Seahawks are led by freshman outside hitter Kate Bennett who has tallied a team-leading 162 assists this season ranking her fifth in the conference. She is also 10th in the conference in digs at 3.40 per game. Kate Bennett is the sister of former Chanticleers volleyball player Sarah Bennett. Sophomore setter Lacey White is seventh in the CAA conference at 9.51 assists per game.

Scouting UNC Asheville

UNC Asheville (12-11, 3-1 BSC) after defeating Coastal last weekend in the first game of their season matches, are the current second place team in the Big South Conference. The Bulldogs will have one more game to play against conference front runner Winthrop University before they welcome Coastal in for a match on Saturday. The Bulldogs are lead by sophomore outside hitter Elif Unlu, who was registered a team high 293 kills this season, seventh in the conference. Junior Amanda Wiles has a team high 998 assists this season an average of 10.97 per game, which is fourth in the conference. Allison Lambert is among the conference leaders with 82 total blocks this season. UNCA holds a two-game advantage in the alltime series at 14-12 over Coastal.

Scouting Western Carolina

Western Carolina are 7-10 and 3-5 in the Southern Conference this season. The Catamounts are coming off a 3-0 victory over Wofford, which snapped its three-game losing streak. Western is lead by sophomore outside hitter Kellyn Thaut, who has recorded 253 kills this season an average of over four per game, which is second in the conference. Sophomore setter Meghan Boyle has registered 411 assists this season.

Last Week’s Recap

UNC Asheville

The Coastal Carolina University volleyball team (9-7, 2-3 Big South) dropped its first home conference match of the season in thrilling five-game fashion ( 30-28, 29-31, 26-30, 30-14, 18-20) to UNC Asheville on Saturday, Oct. 9, at Kimbel Arena. All the games were competitive with Coastal defeating Asheville in first game. Asheville defeated Coastal in the next two games, CCU battled back to take the third match setting up a fifth and deciding game that would not disappoint. Coastal did not start well as it was Asheville who stormed out to 12-9 lead. Coastal again would fight back and score five of the game’s next six points to take a 14-13 lead and put a match victory within their grasp. Asheville then rose to the occasion and tied the game at 14. With both teams sensing victory within reach, neither was able to open up the two point lead necessary for a match win. The two volleyed, with opportunity presenting itself several times for the win. Finally when the match reached 19-18, Asheville was able to claim ownership as junior Talia Ogle’s kill gave them a 20-18 victory. Coastal was led by Laura Obert, who tallied 19 kills. She was one of five Chants in double figures in kills. Others to reach the mark included junior Katherine Jensen, who had 16 kills, Alicia Meyers who tallied 14, junior Krista Kimble. who had 13, and sophomore Ashley Scheible with 12. Five Chanticleers also recorded double figures in digs led by Jensen and Kali Banghart who each had 24. Meyers tallied 17 digs, Jacylnn Yocum and Jennifer Hampton had 14 and 13 digs, respectively. Hampton was the match leader with 69 assists. The 69 assists by Hasmtpon were a career high and would earn her the Big South Volleyball Player of the Week Award for the week ending Oct 10.

 

Birmingham Southern

The Coastal Carolina University volleyball team (10-7, 3-3 Big South) won its first home conference match of the season, as it swept Birmingham Southern (9-8, 3-2 Big South) ( 30-28, 30-27, 30-25) in three games on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 10, at Kimbel Arena. The Chants were led to victory by Katherine Jensen who recorded a match-high 18 kills and a team-high 21 digs. Sophomore Alicia Meyers also reached double figures with 16 kills. Libero Kali Banghart had a solid performance with 19 digs. Junior setter Jennifer Hampton had a double-double with a match-high 44 assists and 15 digs.

Honors A Plenty

Laura Obert and Jennifer Hampton were both named to the Chanticleer Classic All-Tournament Team as they led Coastal to a second place finish. Previously Katherine Jensen and Laura Obert were both named to the All-Big Orange Bash Team as they led Coastal to a second place finish. In the first tournament of the season Katherine Jensen and Jennifer Hampton were both named to the Dayton Invitational All-Tournament team for their outstanding performances as Coastal ended up taking second place in the Dayton Invitational as well.

Player of the Week

Jennifer Hampton was honored as the Big South Player of the Week for the week ending, October 10. Hampton had a great game, setting a career high and the conference high for the season with 69 assists. For the week Hampton tallied 113 assists and 28 digs. This is the second time has been awarded by the Big South as Player of the Week. Hampton previously was honored as the Co-Player of the Week in the Big South Conference for Sept. 13-20. Hampton helped Coastal upset NC State with a 61 assists and 15 dig effort at the Chanticleer Classic. For the week she tallied 17 assists, 161 assists and 57 digs with a .288 hitting percentage.

Defense Counts

Coastal is currently ranked third in the Big South Conference in opponent hitting percentage (.191) and are averaging 14.32 kills a game, which is third in the Big South Conference. CCU also is third in the conference as it averages better than 16 digs per game (16.40) and more than two blocks a game (2.18) which ranks second in the Big South.

Individual Leaders

Coastal’s Laura Obert and Jennifer Hampton are among the top ten in hitting percentage at .320 and .298, espectively. Hampton is tied for third in the conference in assists with 11.23 per match. Coastal boasts the third leading blocker in the conference in Krista Kimble who is averaging 1.05 blocks per game. Kimble is one of only four women this year to total nine blocks in a single game (versus North Carolina State).

The Kill Shot

CCU’s Katherine Jensen is second in the conference in kills and one of only three women averaging better than 4 kills per game (4.11). Jensen tallied a conference high for five games with 28 kills against North Carolina State.

Career Leaders

Jennifer Hampton is closing in on Colette Pawlyk all-time mark for career assists with the 696 she has tallied this year. Her career total now stands at 3475, only175 behind the career mark of 3650.

After only a little over a year of playing at Coastal’s, Katherine Jensen has now tied Emma Prowse for 10th on the Lady Chanticleers career kills list with 731.

Pre-Season Choice for Second

Coastal Carolina’s volleyball team received 103 points including two first-place votes, to grab the second spot in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll on August 18. The Chants are coming off a season where they finished 21-11 overall, including 11-3 in the Big South Conference, and advanced to the Big South Tournament Semi-finals.Coastal is bringing back five starters from last season including the libero.

Up Next

Coastal volleyball will be returning home for a short homestand against conference rivals Winthrop University, Oct 22, and High Point University, Oct. 23. Both of these teams defeated Coastal earlier this season so CCU will be looking avenge those losses.