Box Score CONWAY – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team fell in the opening set of Sunday afternoon's match versus South Alabama at the HTC Center, but rallied to win the second and third sets before winning by 15 points in the fourth as the Chants defeated their Sun Belt East Division opponents 19-25, 25-21, 27-25, 25-10.
Coastal's third straight win improves the Chants to 9-11 overall with an 8-4 conference record to remain in second place in the Sun Belt East. South Alabama falls to 11-4, 5-7 SBC.
The Chants were led by outside hitter
Kyla Manning, who put down a match-leading 17 kills while hitting .324.
Ani Bozdeva followed with 14 kills at a .400 pace, and
Anett Nemeth added 14 kills of her own.
Also recording match highs for the Chants were
Sara Boothe with 41 assists, and
Sydney Alvis with 20 digs.
The match also featured plenty of blocks for both teams, with South Alabama leading in the category 14-10. USA's Kelley Hartman had eight blocks for the Jaguars, while
Dora Lulic had six blocks for the Chants.
Following a USA win in the opening set, the two teams were tied at 16-16 midway through the second. Coastal opened up the game by winning six of the next eight points to take a 22-18 lead. The Chants finished off the set with a Bozdeva kill and two USA errors. Manning had five of her 17 kills in the set, while Lulic added three kills and a pair of blocks.
The third set was tied nine times and the lead changed hands on three occasions as the Chants and Jags took the game to extra points. Tied 25-25, Nemeth landed consecutive kills to give Coastal the set and a 2-1 match lead. Nemeth had a team-leading five kills in the set and the Chants hit .312 as a team.
The fourth and final set belonged entirely to Coastal as the Chants hit .600 and recorded four blocks. Manning had eight kills in the final frame, while Lulic and Nemeth had a pair of blocks each. Coastal wasted little time taking a large lead, using an 8-1 run to go in front 14-5. The Chants ended the set on a similar 8-1 run.
Coastal hosts its final home matches of the 2018 season next weekend as Georgia Southern (Nov. 2) and Georgia State (No. 4) come to the HTC Center. The Chants are 1-0 against both the Eagles and Panthers this season.
