Coastal Carolina University
7-2
Drake University
7-7
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drake | 26 | 19 | 11 | 0 |
| Coastal Carolina | 28 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Volleyball Splits on First Day of Hawkeye Challenge
9/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Final Stats vs. Drake | Final Stats vs. Iowa
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team split its pair of matches on Friday, topping Drake in three sets before falling to host Iowa on the first day of the Holiday Inn Hawkeye Challenge.
The split moves the Chants' overall record to 7-3. Coastal wraps the tournament on Saturday with a second match against the Hawkeyes.
Coastal Carolina vs. Drake: 3-0 (28-26, 25-19, 25-11)
Coastal opened the tournament with its fifth shutout of the season.
Lian Bernett paced the Chants' attack against the Bulldogs as the senior put down 11 kills while hitting .524. Leah Hardeman and Natasa Savovic followed with nine kills apiece. Sara Boothe recorded a match-high with 32 assists, three short of her career high.
On the defensive side, Carla Cahill's 15 digs marked the second straight match that the freshman had led all players in the category. Coastal finished with eight team blocks, four of which came from Annayka Legros. Overall, the Chants held Drake to hitting just .054 for the match.
The tightly-contested opening set saw eight ties and three lead changes. Drake pulled ahead late in the game but Bernett's sixth and final kill of the first frame evened the score at 25 points apiece. Savovic proved to be the hero of the set, however, as the junior tied the score at 26-26 with a kill before dropping two serves in front of Kyla Inderski to give Coastal the two-point advantage.
The match opened up in the second and third sets as Coastal hit .371 and .400, respectively, while holding wire-to-wire leads in both. Conversely, Drake was held to hitting just .000 and -.091 in the final two frames.
Coastal put down 15 kills to Drake's nine in the second set, with Hardeman accounting for four, and Bernett and Savovic each tallying three. Eszter Nagy, meanwhile, led the Chants at the net, recording all three of her blocks for the match.
The Chants jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the third, and remained at least six points ahead of the Bulldogs for the remainder of the set.
Coastal Carolina vs. Iowa: 0-3 (23-25, 19-25, 22-25)
Coastal's second match of the tournament resulted in a three-set loss to an Iowa team that was receiving votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
Hardeman's 14 kills in the match led all players, though Coastal's 39 team kills were outdone by Iowa's 51. The Chants were also out-hit by the Hawkeyes .342-.209.
Savovic and Nagy tallied eight kills apiece. Nagy added three blocks to tie Bernett for the team lead. Boothe once again led the Chants in assists, recording 20 in the three sets.
Coastal kept pace with Iowa in the first set, resulting in a 16-16 tie midway through. The Hawkeyes won the next three points, however, and maintained that cushion for the remainder of the set.
The second set looked much the same as, after pulling even at 15 points apiece, Iowa took the ensuing four points to remain ahead of the Chants.
Iowa jumped out to a quick nine-point lead in the third set but Coastal surged back, cutting the deficit to five with four straight points on the serve of Cahill. The Chants came as close as two points to the Hawkeyes before the set ended.
