CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team opened the 2019 season with a 3-0 sweep (32-30, 28-26, 25-14) of Loyola Maryland Friday afternoon in the Chanticleers' first match of the UVA Cavalier Classic at Memorial Gym.
 
Coastal improves to 1-0 with the season-opening victory while Loyola Maryland, playing in its second match of the day, falls to 1-1 overall.
 
Junior outside hitter Ani Bozdeva led the Chants' winning effort, landing 12 kills at a .370 clip while also recording nine digs and three blocks. All were team highs.
 
Mariia Levanova, playing in her first match in teal, put down 10 kills, while Kyla Manning and Jelena Prolic each recorded six kills while hitting over .500.
 
The Chants hit .321 combined and held Loyola Maryland to a .175 hitting percentage thanks to 46 total digs and 11 total blocks.
 
Coastal had twice led by five points in the match's opening set, but each time the Greyhounds managed to rally. The first game ended up going to extra points with Coastal fighting off four set points and Loyola negating three. The score was tied for the final time at 30-30 before back-to-back kills by Manning and Levanova, respectively, ended the set.
 
The second set likewise went to extras. Coastal fought from behind for the majority of the set but rallied towards the end, winning 10 of the final 16 points. Trailing 26-25, the Chants earned two of their final three points from Loyola errors before Manning put the game away with a kill.
 
The third set had all the appearances of going the distance early on, but nine unanswered points put Coastal in the driver's seat with a commanding 16-8 lead. The Chants made few mistakes in closing out the match and taking the final set by 11 points.
 
Coastal plays a pair of matches on Saturday to close out the Cavalier Classic, taking on Furman at 12:30 p.m. and Virginia at 6:30 p.m. The second match of the day will be streamed on ACCN.