Oct. 6, 2009

Box Score

ROCK HILL, S.C. - The Coastal Carolina University volleyball team went to Winthrop hoping to hand the Eagles their first loss at home this season, but fell short 3-1 (22-25, 14-25, 25-21, 22-25) Oct. 6. The Chanticleers fall to 8-9 overall and 2-2 in the Big South while the Eagles improve to 12-6 overall and 4-1 in the Big South.

Junior Chelsy Kimes led the Chants attack with 16 kills and nine digs while Megan Pollard tallied 18 digs. Megan Bickford added seven kills and finished with at .300 attack percentage and also added three blocks. Senior Meagan Tracey guided the team with 38 assists.

Early in set one, Coastal Carolina and Winthrop flip-flopped back and fourth, forcing 13 ties until senior libero Megan Pollard served five straight points forcing the Eagles to take a timeout and talk over the 20-15 Chanticleer lead. Winthrop went on the attack behind Kellie Sellers' serving to cut the Chants advantage to 22-21. Coastal Carolina would try to hold off the attack, but the Eagles took set one 25-22.

In the second set, the Chanticleers couldn't find their rhythm offensively or defensively and allowed the Eagles to go out to a 9-5 lead. A kill by Chelsy Kimes would stop the run, but it would not be enough to get the Chants going as Winthrop took the lead 23-11. With a wall behind their backs, the Chants looked for a comeback on a Megan Bickford kill and two Eagle errors, but their effort was stopped short as Winthrop took the second set and went 2-0 on the match.

Coming out of the locker room down two sets, the Chants came out hungry for a win in the third, forcing eight ties with the final tie coming at 12-all. After the final tie, Coastal Carolina took the lead and never looked backed as they went ahead 20-15. Winthrop tried to come back, but two Eagle errors and a final kill by Amanda Russell forced the match to a fourth set. The Chants held Winthrop to a .051 team attack percentage to their .367 percentage.

In the fourth set, the Chants started to find their rhythm again and went out to a 10-7 lead, but the pesky Eagles battled back to tie the set at 15-all. With both teams battling hard, Coastal Carolina tried to prevent a comeback, but after four ties, the Eagles could not be stopped and won the match 3-1.

The Chanticleers travel to Presbyterian for its next match on Sat., Oct. 10 at 2 p.m. before returning home on Oct. 13 to take on Charleston Southern.