FOLEY, ALA. – No. 12 Coastal Carolina will return to the championship match of the Sun Belt Conference Women's Volleyball Championship tournament after defeating Little Rock 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-15) on Saturday, Nov. 21, in the semifinal round in Foley, Ala.

The Chanticleers (18-0), who lost to Texas State in the championship match in 2019, will play either the Bobcats in a rematch of last year's title match or Troy for the 2020 championship title on Sunday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. ET.

Coastal broke a 4-4 tie in the first set by scoring six of the next eight points to open a 10-6 advantage.  The Chants continued to hold the lead and closed the opening set by scoring seven of the final nine points in a 25-15 win.  Coastal committed just two errors while pounding 17 kills in the first set for a .441 hitting percentage.

Little Rock (6-14) scored the first three points of the second set in what would prove to be the lone bright spot of the set for the Trojans.  A kill by Anett Nemeth ended the LR run and started a run of 7-1 for the Chanticleers who opened a 7-4 lead.  After trading points, Coastal scored three in a row on a Little Rock service error, a service ace by Ilse Sinnige, and a solo block by Ani Bozdeva to take a 13-7 advantage.  The Chants would not look back as they blasted a .500 hitting percentage and 16 kills to take the second set 25-15.

The third and final set would play true to the first two as the Chanticleers again won 25-15 behind a strong offensive attack.  The Chants never trailed in the set and took a commanding 10-2 lead early with nine unanswered points as Bozdeva served a pair of aces and Christina Nance hammered two kills during the stretch to lead the way.  Coastal went on to close the third set with the final four points behind two kills by Blaire Fleming and a kill each by Nemeth and Sinnige.

For the match, Coastal Carolina recorded 50 kills and connected for a .432 hitting percentage.  Nemeth led a balanced Chanticleer attack with 13 kills, no attack errors, and a .419 hitting percentage.  Sinnige added eight kills and also did not have an error in attack with a .533 hitting percentage.  Bozdeva, Fleming, and Jelena Prolic added seven kills each for the Chants.  In addition to their offensive work at the net, Nemeth and Sinnige also dominated at the net defensively with four and three blocks, respectively.

Sophomore setter Brigitta Petrenko dished out 34 assists while libero Lina Perugini had 23 digs.

Little Rock was held to a hitting percentage of just .149 for the match as the Chants defense kept the Trojans off-balance.  Laura Jansen led Little Rock with eight kills and setter Alyssa Nayar handed out 19 assists.

The Sun Belt Conference championship match will be broadcast on ESPN+ beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday.  Coastal will face the winner of the Texas State-Troy semifinal that will take place later tonight.

In addition to watching the championship 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.