Final Stats

CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team suffered its first Sun Belt loss of the year Sunday afternoon as defending conference champion Arkansas State took a five-set win (25-12, 21-25, 20-25, 27-25, 15-9) at the HTC Center.

The Chants fall to 10-4 overall and even their conference record at 1-1 with the loss. Arkansas State, meanwhile, improves to 10-6, 2-0.

The Red Wolves were led by Carlisa May, Kenzie Field and Jessica Uke, who put down 16, 13 and 10 kills, respectively, while Uke posted a match-best .500 hitting percentage. A-State setter Mallory Warrington led all players with 54 assists, while Markie Schaedig led the match with 36 digs.

Coastal held a 13-9 advantage in blocks for the match, but fell short in nearly every other category. The Chants were led by Leah Hardeman, who recorded season bests in kills (21) and digs (20) while hitting .286. Annayka Legros followed with 13 kills and seven total blocks, while Tahleia Bishop put down 12 kills with three blocks and nine digs.

Serving errors hampered the Chants in the first set as the Red Wolves quickly took a 13-4 lead and stayed in front by at least eight points for the remainder of the game. The Chants responded by taking eight of the first nine points to start the second set, and Legros' five kills in the frame led Coastal to the four-point set win.

Coastal overtook the match in the third frame behind a .286 team hitting percentage. Legros had her second straight set with five kills, and Hardeman added six to push the Chants in front 2-1.

The fourth set was the most tightly-contested of the match with 13 ties and five lead changes. Coastal held match point, 24-23, but a Brentlee Weaver kill evened the set and kept the Red Wolves alive. Hardeman gave the Chants match point for a second time before a Coastal setting error once again tied things up. May then helped Arkansas State capture the next two points to narrowly win the set, 27-25.

Coastal used a timeout early in fifth set after Arkansas State took a 6-3 lead, and nearly managed to tie the game after pulling within one point. A-State, however, used a 5-1 run to build an insurmountable and finish off the match.

The Chants begin a four-match road swing at Texas State on Sept. 30 to close out the month. First serve is set for 6 p.m. CT.