CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team returns to action this weekend with a pair of matches as they travel to South Alabama on Friday and then on Saturday at Troy. Both contests are slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET.
History versus South Alabama and Troy
The Chanticleers hold the all-time advantage over both of their opponents this weekend. In the six lifetime matches versus South Alabama, the Chants have not lost. In seven matches versus Troy, the Chants hold a 5-2 lifetime mark.
Last season at home versus the Jaguars on Oct. 28, 2018, CCU lost the first set of the match but outside hitter Kyla Manning powered her team past USA in the final three sets to the 19-25, 25-21, 27-25, 25-10 victory. The Atlanta, Ga., native put down a match-leading 17 kills while hitting .324.
Just two weeks later in the rematch with South Alabama, the Chants used a season-high 16 team blocks to dispatch the Jags by the score of 25-16, 28-26, and 25-20.
The two teams split a pair of matches last season.Â
Five Chants recorded blocks on Oct. 26, 2018, in the straight-sets (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) win as then-freshman Anett Nemeth led all players with seven rejections, including four solo efforts. In the rematch just two weeks later on Nov. 10, 2018, Nemeth upped her defensive game as she set a school record with 13 stuffs in the match. The Pecel, Hungary native added 15 kills and 24 assists for her fourth-career triple-double, but it wasn't enough as the Chanticleers fell to Troy in five sets by the score of 22-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-17, and 10-15.
Coastal Carolina
CCU suffered their first two losses in the Sun Belt play last weekend to Texas State and UT Arlington as they sit with an 8-2 conference record and 18-4 overall.
The aforementioned Nemeth earned her third consecutive Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week as she tallied a conference-best 58 kills on 121 attempts with a hitting percentage of .355.
On Friday against Texas State, the Chants fell in four sets by the score of 23-25, 29-27, 23-25, and 18-25. Nemeth had a match-high 26 kills, freshman setter Brigitta Petrenko had 49 assists while CCU libero Lina Perugini led all players in the match with 14 digs.
The Chanticleers were unable to regroup two days later as UTA took Coastal to the limit for a five-set victory, 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-18, and 11-15. Nemeth tied former Chanticleer Leah Hardman (vs. Arkansas State, 2017) with a school record for kills in a match with 32. Petrenko had a match-high 55 assists and a Perugini had a match-high 16 digs.
South Alabama
Going into this weekend's match against the Chants, the Jags are riding a three-game winning streak as they lead the Sun Belt East by just percentage points ahead of the Chanticleers for first-place with a conference record of 9-2 and 18-7 overall.
South Alabama defeated Troy in straight-sets on Tuesday to continue their 14- match home match-winning streak. The Jags had a season-high 12 team blocks, including Hannah Harris' 3.5 blocks.Â
On Tuesday, middle hitter Kelley Hartman led her team offensively in the three-set win over Troy with 12 kills. On the season, Hartman leads the conference with a .392 hitting percentage and ranks eighth in kills per set with 3.14. Â
Troy
The Trojans are winners of three of their last four as they have defeated Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and UT Arlington, but lost to South Alabama in straight sets on Tuesday night. Troy sits a game back of Coastal Carolina in third-place of the Sun Belt East with a record of 8-3 and 18-5 overall.
South Alabama's block stifled Troy's attack in Tuesday's match with 12-team blocks and held them to a .159 hitting percentage. Halston Hiller led the Trojans with a team-high 10 kills and Caitlin Cooper pitched in with nine putaways while setter Amara Anderson led her team with 32 assists in the loss.
For complete coverage of CCU volleyball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalVball (twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
