CONWAY, S.C. – After completing the regular season with a perfect 16-0 record overall and in Sun Belt Conference play, No. 15 Coastal Carolina volleyball will open postseason play on Thursday, Nov. 19, in the Sun Belt Women's Volleyball Championship tournament in Foley, Ala., at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex.
The Chanticleers, champions of the East Division for the fourth time in five years and the No. 1 seed in the East bracket, will play No. 6 seed Appalachian State (1-12, 1-12 SBC) in the opening round beginning at 6 p.m. ET. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
The meeting will be the fifth between Coastal Carolina and App State this season, with the Chants winning the first three matches 3-0 and dropping just one set in winning the final match 3-1. The Chanticleers have won 48 of the 54 sets that they have played overall on the season. Coastal, which won both the 2016 and 2017 Sun Belt Championships, will be looking for its third title.
Coastal Carolina is led offensively by the defending Sun Belt Player of the Year in junior
Anett Nemeth. The Pecel, Hungary, native leads the Sun Belt and ranks 18th nationally with 4.30 kills per set and is fifth in the league with a .319 hitting percentage. Senior
Ani Bozdeva is second on the team in kills at 3.43 per set and ranks 10th in the Sun Belt with a .291 hitting percentage.
Sophomore setter
Brigitta Petrenko has registered 372 set assists and ranks sixth in the Sun Belt with 8.53 assists per set. Petrenko also sets the offense when serving as she leads the conference and ranks third in the nation with 0.59 aces per set and leads the NCAA with 22 service aces.
On defense, sophomore libero
Lina Perugini leads the Coastal defense with 260 digs and ranks sixth in the Sun Belt at 4.81 digs per set. As a team, the Chanticleers are holding their opponents to a .110 hitting percentage to lead the nation. In addition to Perugini's work in defending attacks, the work at the net by
Christina Nance and
Ilse Sinnige has helped prevent attacks from even crossing the net. The duo leads the Chanticleers with 41.0 and 34.0 blocks, respectively. Nance ranks ninth in the Sun Belt with 0.93 blocks per set.
In addition to watching all matches in the Sun Belt Tournament live on ESPN+,
live stats will be available on Coastal Carolina's athletic web site at www.GoCCUsports.com. Fans can also follow along on Twitter
@CoastalVBall for in-match updates.
For complete coverage of CCU volleyball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalVball (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
