CONWAY – On Sunday, the Coastal Carolina and South Alabama volleyball teams squared off for the 2019 Sun Belt East Division Volleyball Championship inside The HTC Center. 

The Chanticleers came out on top with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 25-17, 25-19) victory over the Jaguars as they were led by the duo of Kyla Manning's career-high 23 kills and Anett Nemeth's 22 kills.

CCU came out red hot as they played well in all facets of the game. Offensively, Coastal was able to hit .481 (14-of-27) with one error. Manning led the team with seven kills as she hit (7-of-10) and no errors. On the defensive side, freshman hitter middle hitter, Ilse Sinnige helped hold the opposition to a .231 hitting percentage and recorded a set-high 2.5 blocks. Freshman Brigitta Petrenko book ended the 25-19 set-one win with two of her match-high four service aces.

In set two, with the Chanticleers down by the score of 20-19, CCU was able to rally to pull out the 25-22 win. CCU reeled off six of the eight set points after their final timeout. Nemeth led all hitters in the set with eight kills on 11 attempts, but the CCU setter Petrenko made a consistent effort to involve her teammate Manning to keep the Jaguars block guessing. The Atlanta, Ga., native would have just three kills in the set but had a set-high 13 attempts.

Fresh off the second set loss, the Jags found themselves down by a 2-1 score to start the third set before a pair of kills by Meagan Jones sparked South Alabama to a 6-0 run for a 7-2 lead. Coastal would find offense from Nemeth's two kills and Manning's three kills to cut the USA lead to four points at 15-11, but the Jaguars would not allow Coastal Carolina to get any closer in the set.

South Alabama went on to win the set 25-17 as the Jaguars held CCU to a hitting percentage of .258 (13-of-31) with five errors. Jones would lead all hitters in the set with six kills (6-of-12) and no errors.

The Chanticleers would rely heavily on Nemeth and Manning in the 25-18 set four-win as each player would have eight kills, hit over .500, and have at least 10 swings apiece. Manning led the Chants with a .600 (8-of-10) attack percentage and two errors. Nemeth would hit .583 (8-of-12) and commit one error.

South Alabama would hang around in the fourth set as they were down by just one point with the score at 14-13, but senior Mariia Levanova would add two kills in a 4-0 CCU run that pushed their lead to 18-13.

Manning and Nemeth had a combined six kills over their final 11 points to win the set and the match.

Manning had 42 swings and hit .452 with four errors in the four set-victory. Her 23 kills also marks the fourth time in her career that the junior has achieved the feat.

Petrenko had a match-high 52 assists, marking the seventh time in her young career she has passed out at least 50 assists.

CCU freshman Lina Perugini and the Jags' Paige Lynn each had 15 digs in the four sets.

In her final home match of her career, Levanova chipped in with eight kills and seven digs.

South Alabama's Jones had a team-high 13 kills in the loss.

With the win, the Chanticleers improve to 23-5 overall and 13-3 in Sun Belt play to earn a double-bye in next weekend's 2019 Sun Belt Volleyball Championship Tournament in San Marcos, Texas. Coastal will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament behind No.1 seed Texas State. The Chanticleers will play on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 6:00 p.m. ET against the winner of No.7 UT Arlington/No.6 Applachian State v. No. 3 South Alabama. Click here for the full 2019 Sun Belt Volleyball Championship bracket.

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.