CONWAY, S.C. -- The Coastal Carolina University women's volleyball team recorded its first victory of the season on Tuesday night (Aug. 28) with a thrilling 3-1 win over the College of Charleston Cougars at Kimbel Arena. Game scores were 31-29, 30-19, 31-33, 30-26.

"It's a great way to open, anyway you go about it," Head Coach Kristen Bauer said. "College of Charleston is such a good team for us to take a match in four. Especially coming off three losses, we needed something to get us going. Hopefully, this is what we needed."

Coastal Carolina led for most of game one until the Cougars made a late four-point run to take a 24-22 advantage. With the score 29-25 in favor of the College of Charleston, freshman Megan Bickford's (Olathe, Kan./Olathe) kill started a six-point run that allowed Coastal to comeback and take the first game.

Game two remained close with the largest lead being three until Coastal enjoyed a nine-point run to make it 25-16. During that run, sophomore Meagan Tracey (Scottsdale, Ariz./Horizon) totaled a pair of service aces, while freshman Amanda Russell (Liberty, Ind./Union County) and Bickford recorded back-to-back block assists.

The Lady Chants saw a six-point lead disappear in game three when the Cougars used a six-point run to knot the game at 13. The College of Charleston took a 15-14 lead off a block assist by Sarah Luers and Lindsey Kane and maintained that advantage until CCU's Russell had a kill that tied the game at 26-all. The two teams battled for the remainder of the game, with five more ties occurring before the Cougars emerged with the win.

Game four was another close one with 13 ties. Coastal took the final lead off a service error to make it a 20-19 game. The Lady Chants extended their lead to two off a kill by sophomore Jill Nyhof (Alpharetta, Ga./Northview), but the College of Charleston brought it back to a one-point game off a Cole Dawley kill. However, Coastal was able to pull away and seal the match with back-to-back kills by Bickford and Nyhof.

Nyhof totaled a match-high 18 kills, while Bickford had 15. Freshman Chelsy Kimes (Munster, Ind./Munster) recorded the team's first double-double of the season with 10 kills and 15 digs. Tracey put up 54 assists and junior Brett Starbuck (Glen Allen, Va./J.R. Tucker) had a team-high 23 digs.

Whitney Russell led the Cougars with 18 kills. Lindsey Kane had 49 assists and Megan Parkerson had a match-high 30 digs.

Coastal Carolina returns to action this Saturday and Sunday at the Samford Tournament in Birmingham, Ala. The Lady Chants face McNeese State Saturday at 11:30 a.m. EDT in the first match.