FOLEY, ALA. – The No. 12 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers battled despite losing star player Anett Nemeth early in the match before falling 3-2 (20-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19, 15-6) to No. 15 Texas State in the Sun Belt Conference Women's Volleyball Championship tournament in Foley, Ala.

Nemeth, the 2019 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year, went out with a lower-body injury with the Chanticleers trailing 20-16 in the second set after winning in set number one.  For Coastal (18-1), which won its second-straight Sun Belt East Division Championship, the loss ended an 18-match winning streak and was the second consecutive loss to Texas State in the Sun Belt tournament final.  The Chanticleers have now been in the title match four of the five seasons that they have been Sun Belt Conference members, winning the championship in both 2016 and 2017.

With the first set tied 17-17, Coastal scored five unanswered points to take a 22-17 advantage as Texas State committed three attack errors and Nemeth and Ani Bozdeva posted kills for the Chants.  With the cushion, the Chanticleers traded points on the scoreboard before a block by Jelena Prolic gave Coastal the 25-20 win in the opening set.

Texas State (24-2) jumped out to a 9-3 advantage in the second set as Sun Belt Tournament Most Valuable Player Tyeranee Scott had four kills and four blocks during the run.  The Chanticleers slowly battled back and used a 3-0 run to close the gap to 18-15 on a pair of kills and a solo block by Ilse Sinnige.  Texas State scored the final three points of the set on a pair of kills by Scott and then a service ace by Lauren Teske to tie the match at one set each with the 25-18 set-two win.

In the third set, Coastal Carolina used a 5-1 run to open the largest lead of the set at 14-10.  Following a media timeout, Texas State scored five unanswered points to take a 16-15 lead.  Coastal promptly answered with a four-point run of its own, led by three kills from Blaire Fleming, to retake the lead at 19-16.  The Bobcats tied the match at 22-22 on a kill by Teske before the Chants scored a pair to take a 24-22 advantage for a set-point.  Scott blasted a kill to pull Texas State to within one point but Coastal's Bozdeva ended the set at 25-23 with a kill of her own.

The Bobcats jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set and built a 10-4 cushion before Coastal scored five of the next seven points to close the gap to just three points at 12-9.  Texas State built the lead back to 19-12 on another kill by Scott but the Chants refused to go away and pulled to within five points at 22-17 with a 3-1 spurt.  Coastal would pull no closer as the teams traded points before Janel Fitzgerald ended the fourth set 25-19 with a kill.

Texas State came out on fire in the fifth and deciding set by scoring the first six points before a Fleming block for the Chants stopped the run.  The closest Coastal would get in the set was at 9-4 but the Bobcats scored four of the next five points to take a commanding 13-5 lead.  Fitzgerald recorded another kill to give Texas State the 15-6 win in the fifth set and earn the Bobcats their third-straight Sun Belt Conference Championship.

Even though Nemeth played less than a set and a half, the junior tied for the team-lead with 12 kills and added a .320 hitting percentage and two blocks for the Chanticleers.  Fleming, a freshman, came off of the bench to post career-highs of 12 kills and two blocks.  Bozdeva, Sinnige, and Madison Lowery added 10 kills each for Coastal.

Sophomore setter Brigitta Petrenko dished out a season-high 49 assists and added 13 digs.  Lowery and Prolic tied for the team-high with four blocks each while libero Lina Perugini posted 25 digs on defense.

Scott posted a match-high 18 kills to lead Texas State while Fitzgerald and Caitlan Buettner added 13 and 12 kills, respectively.  Scott also tallied six blocks while Fitzgerald added five blocks for the Bobcats.  Setter Emily Dewalt had 49 assists and 18 digs.

Nemeth and Bozdeva were named to the Sun Belt All-Tournament team for Coastal.  Joining Scott on the team from Texas State was DeWalt while Little Rock's Laura Jansen and Troy's Cheyenne Hayes also earned all-tournament honors.
 
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