ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Sophomore Chelsy Kimes (Munster, Ind./Munster) knocked down a career-high 27 kills to lead the Coastal Carolina University volleyball team over UNC Asheville 3-2 (25-11, 25-17, 32-34, 24-26, 15-10) at the Justice Center Saturday, Oct. 18. The Chanticleers are now 3-0 in five-set matches this season, and move to 17-7 overall and 6-2 in Big South play. Asheville played back-to-back five-set matches this weekend and drop to 10-11 on the season and 2-6 in the league.

The Chanticleers came out firing in the first set going up 9-4, as sophomore Amanda Russell (Liberty, Ind./Union County) recorded four kills during that span. Coastal Carolina would continue to dominate Asheville's defense, registering six more kills to take a 15-7 advantage and forcing the Bulldogs to call a timeout. The break, however, swung even more momentum towards the Chanticleers as Kimes tallied three consecutive kills, pushing the lead to 18-9. Asheville struggled offensively and would go down 25-11 in the first frame, as freshman Kelsie Mauck (Muncie, Ind./Delta) served up an ace for the victory.

Both squads began the second set trading points to a 7-7 score. The Chants took the next four points to pull away 11-7, but the Bulldogs responded with a four-point rally of their own to tie the set again at 11-11. Sophomore Megan Bickford (Olathe, Kan./Olathe South) would step in to serve at 16-13 and would fire off the next seven points, including a kill and two service aces to go ahead 21-13 and eventually earn the Chants 25-17 win in the second set. After two sets, the Chanticleers had recorded 39 kills, while the Bulldogs had 17.

The Bulldogs continued to fight, looking to solve the Chanticleers’ attack in the third set, but an 18-10 lead for Coastal Carolina looked like a three-set sweep was in the books. Asheville called a timeout that seemed to solve its own attacking woes and put together 11 of the next 14 points to even the score at 21-21. The Chants earned match point as senior Brett Starbuck (Glen Allen, Va./J.R. Tucker) pushed the ball into an open backcourt, but the Bulldogs replied with a kill by Cindi Miller for a 24-24 score. There would be eight more tie scores as neither team was willing to surrender. Coastal Carolina had three match points, but Asheville's relentless fight earned seven set points. The host Bulldogs eventually claimed a 34-32 victory on an attacking error by the Chanticleers, pushing the match to a fourth set.

Another close set ensued in the fourth frame as each team tallied seven kills early on for a 14-14 tie, one of 14 ties in the set. At 24-24, Asheville’s Rachel Olivo tallied a kill to give the Bulldogs a 25-24 lead. The Chanticleers coughed up the final point on an attacking error, allowing Asheville to even the match at 2-2 and force a fifth set.

Coastal Carolina went down 4-2 in the deciding set, but pieced together a five-point rally, including a service ace from Starbuck, to take a 7-4 lead. A kill by Kimes would spur another four-point rally as the Chants went ahead 14-9. Junior Jill Nyhof’s (Alpharetta, Ga./Northview) ninth kill of the match secured a 15-10 victory.

Junior Meagan Tracey (Scottsdale, Ariz./Horizon) and Mauck split time at setter, recording 46 and 21 assists, respectively. Russell tallied 16 kills while Bickford earned 15 of her own in the win.

Coastal Carolina take its five-match winning streak when it travels to Liberty Friday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. In the last meeting, the Lady Flames snapped the Chanticleers’ six-match winning streak.