Box Score Sept. 5, 2014 Coastal vs. Florida Atlantic Final Stats | Coastal vs. Jacksonville Final Stats
Jacksonville, Fla. - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team picked up a pair of wins on Friday in the first day of action at the Jacksonville Marriott Classic. It was a tale of two games as the Chants started the day winning a tight 3-2 nail biter over Florida Atlantic in the morning before cruising to a 3-0 shutout against Jacksonville later in the evening.
With the two wins the Chants move to the positive side with a 3-2 overall record. Florida Atlantic picked up a win over North Florida later in the day and is now 1-1 in the tournament, 3-2 overall. Jacksonville is likewise 1-1 in the tournament, having won its early match against Bethune-Cookman, and sits at 2-3 overall.
Leah Hardeman led the Chants in kills for the fourth consecutive match as the freshman put down 18 against FAU. Hardeman was also responsible for three of the team's seven aces, and finished second on the team in digs with 14. Juniors Gabriella Horvath and Eszter Nagy produced 14 and 11 kills, respectively, while Nagy posted a team-high hitting percentage of .429 and led the way in total blocks with seven.
Senior setter Sam Skryd tied FAU's Genesis Viera for the match-high in assists as each player registered 53. It was the second consecutive match that Skryd tallied over 50 assists. Jenna Orner's 18 digs were second only to Nathalie Rosado of FAU, who tallied 25.
Coastal found itself in a hole after surrendering the first set 25-21 to the Owls, but rebounded in a big way in the second set to even the match. Leading 14-12 in the second, the Chants went on an impressive 11-4 tear to close out the game.
Coastal carried its momentum into the third where the Chants went on a 7-3 run midway through the set, taking a 20-14 lead and forcing FAU to use both of its timeouts. The Owls regained some ground after the second halt to play, but the Chants closed out the set 25-19.
The Chants fell 25-20 in the fourth set after the Owls used a four-point streak towards the end to pull away. Coastal nursed a one-point lead for the majority of the fifth set, but two well-timed kills from Horvath at the end sealed the match for the Chants.
Hardeman was close to recording her second double-double of the day as she notched 16 kills and nine digs against Jacksonville. Senior Katie Martin followed with nine kills and .643 hitting percentage, and junior Lian Bernett put down seven kills. Skryd produced a match-best .833 hitting percentage with five kills on six attempts to go along with her 30 assists.
On the defensive side, Bernett led the way in digs with 11 while Horvath totaled a match-high four blocks.
The Chants got off to a quick start in the first set against the Dolphins, grabbing 10 of the match's first 14 points and never looking back as they closed the game by a 25-17 margin.
The second set looked much the same as the first as Coastal grabbed an early 10-4 lead, and never let Jacksonville within three points for the remainder of the set as the Chants won 25-19.
The final game saw the Chants and Dolphins tied at 5-5 in the early going, but Coastal used a six-point run to build a sizable lead that would hold up for the remainder of the match as Coastal ran away with a 25-12 win.
Coastal finished the match against Jacksonville with a .366 hitting percentage while holding the Dolphins to .098, the lowest of any of Coastal's opponents this season. The Chants also won the battle at the net, tallying seven blocks compared to Jacksonville's one.
The Chanticleers wrap up their time at the Jacksonville Marriott Classic on Saturday morning when they take on North Florida at 10 am. The Ospreys were shut out by Florida Atlantic in their first match of the tournament.
