CONWAY - On Saturday, Nov. 23, First Team All-Sun Belt award winners Anett Nemeth, Brigitta Petrenko, Kyla Manning lead the No. 2-seeded Coastal Carolina Chanticleer volleyball team into action at the 2019 Sun Belt Volleyball Championship on the campus of Texas State University.
The Chanticleers are looking for their third Sun Belt Volleyball Championship in four years as they received a double-bye in the first two rounds of tournament play with their 23-5 overall record and 13-3 in conference play. CCU awaits the winner of the No. 7 UT Arlington and No. 3 South Alabama.
Anett Nemeth is coming off Tuesday's postseason awards announcement as she was voted by the Sun Belt coaches as the second Chanticleer in school history to be named the Sun Belt Player of the Year. Nemeth joins two-time winner former Chanticleer Leah Hardeman who won the honor in 2016 and 2017.
Also, the Pecel, Hungary native won four Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week awards throughout the 2019 regular season, propelling her to her first career Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year award.
Nemeth reached the 20-kill mark 13 times, including reaching the 30-kill performance four times throughout the regular season. On Nov. 2, the all-conference selection set a career-high 33 kills in a five-set match at Troy.
Nemeth ranks first in the conference with 4.86 kills per set, 5.66 points per set, and second with a .363 hitting percentage in all matches. Nationally, she ranks first in hitting percentage at her position, eighth overall in kills per set, and seventh overall in points per set.
Coastal's outside hitter got her 2019 season started in July when she was selected to play for the Hungarian national team. She competed against some of the most talented volleyball players in the world at the 2019 Summer Universiade. She led her team to wins over the Czech Republic, Argentina, Chinese Taipei, Canada, and Brazil before falling to Italy in the semifinals and then Japan in the bronze-medal match.
Nemeth led the entire tournament field with 122 kills, 143 points, 12 service aces, and nine blocks in seven matches.
Quarterbacking the Chants into the tournament is setter Brigitta Petrenko. Before coming to Conway this past summer, the freshman had proved herself to be a winner in her native country in international play. In 2017, Petrenko led Hungary to a national championship, the Hungarian Cup, and the Middle Europe Cup. In 2018, she led her team to another first-place finish at the Hungarian and the Middle Europe Championships.
The Eger, Hungary native catapulted her international success to the 2019 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year. Petrenko became the Chanticleers' second freshman of the year and first since 2014 (Leah Hardeman).
CCU's setter grabbed seven weekly honors throughout the 2019 regular season, including four Sun Belt Freshman of the Week awards. Petrenko has a conference-best 65 service aces, 12 more than any other player in the Sun Belt. Her .60 aces per set has her at the top of the conference rankings, fourth in the NCAA rankings, and first among all freshmen in NCAA play.
Petrenko is one of four setters in the Sun Belt Conference who averages double-digits assists per set. The CCU floor leader ranks second in the conference with 10.69 assists per set. Nationally, she ranks 39th overall in assists per set and fourth among all freshmen in the same category in the NCAA.
Kyla Manning earned her second consecutive First Team All-Sun Belt award as she totaled 305 kills (3.42/set), 162 digs, and 25 blocks during the 2019 regular season. In the season finale against South Alabama ( Nov.17), the junior helped CCU win their first Sun Belt East crown since 2017 with her clutch play. Manning led Coastal with a career-high 23 kills as it was the 18th time during the regular season the CCU outside hitter reached 10 plus kills in a match.
2019 Record v. Potential Opponents (UT Arlington vs. South Alabama)
Coastal Carolina had a 4-2 record against Sun Belt West Division opponents during the 2019 regular season. On Oct. 27, the Chants had one of their fives losses during the season including a five-set loss at home against the UT Arlington Mavericks by the score of 25-23,19-25,24-20,18-25, and 11-15.
CCU wrapped up the regular season last Sunday with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 17-25, 25-19) victory over the South Alabama Jaguars to sweep the regular-season series and clinch the 2019 Sun Belt East Division Championship.
Saturday's semifinal match will begin at 6 p.m. ET. and will be streamed on ESPN+. The championship match will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
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.
