GREENSBORO, N.C. – A change of location due to Hurricane Dorian did not affect the Coastal Carolina volleyball team in the slightest as the Chanticleers claimed a pair of three-set sweeps over South Carolina State and Charleston Southern on the opening day of the Coastal Carolina Classic, a tournament that was shifted to Fleming Gym on the campus of UNC Greensboro.
Coastal has now won five straight matches to open the 2019 campaign, marking the program's best start since the 1996 Chants won six straight matches to begin the season. Furthermore, it is the first time in program history that Coastal has swept its first five opponents of the season.
The Chants will finish the 2019 Coastal Carolina Classic on Saturday with a 2 p.m. match versus ETSU.
Match 1: Coastal 3 – South Carolina State 0
Coastal's first match of the day lasted less than an hour as the Chants finished off South Carolina State in three sets, 25-10, 25-5, 25-12.
The match was highlighted by several program records.
Coastal set a program best for team service aces with 15, breaking the previous record of 14 service aces that was coincidentally set against South Carolina State during the 2013 season.
Anett Nemeth led Coastal with six service aces, breaking the previous Coastal record of five aces in a three-set match and tying the overall individual record for aces in a match of any length. Nemeth also led Coastal with eight kills while hitting .462, and added a pair of blocks.
The Chants totaled 14 blocks as a team, the most for a Coastal team in a three-set match and tied for the fourth-most in a match of any length.
Ilse Sinnige and
Christina Nance led the way with four blocks each while
Jelena Prolic joined Nemeth with a pair of stuffs.
Coastal's blocking held S.C. State to a -.133 hitting percentage, and the Chants only had to record 15 digs against 60 S.C. State attacks.
Coastal hit .500 as a team, which ranks second all-time behind the .575 hitting percentage set by the 2016 Chants versus Appalachian State.
Brigitta Petrenko dished out a match-high 23 assists in the win.
Match 2: Coastal 3 – Charleston Southern 0
In Coastal's second win of the day, the Chants once again kept their opponent to under 20 points in each set as they defeated Charleston Southern 25-19, 25-19, 25-16.
Nemeth once again paced the Chants' attack with nine kills at a .231 clip.
Mariia Levanova followed with eight kills while hitting .263. The Chants' offense as a team hit .253.
Coastal followed its record-setting blocking performance from the first match with eight total blocks against the Bucs. Nance led the way with six block assists. Petrenko and Nemeth each had three assists while Sinnige recorded a pair.
Petrenko recorded her second straight match high with 27 assists and added six digs to match the six of Levanova.
Lina Perugini was the match's digs leader with 12.
