CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University volleyball team (18-8, 12-4 Sun Belt) will open up play at the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament on Friday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. ET.
The Chanticleers finished second overall in the 2021 Sun Belt Conference East Division regular-season standings to earn the No. 2 seed in the East and receive a first-round bye.
With their bye, the Chanticleers will play the winner of the first-round matchup between No. 3 Louisiana (West) and No. 6 Appalachian State (East) in the quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. ET.
Links to live stats and live video feeds on ESPN+ are available at the Championship Tournament Central Page at
www.SunBeltSports.org.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
The Chanticleers head into the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament on the right track, as the Chants won each of their last three matches in dominating fashion.
CCU dropped just one set over their final three contests of the regular season, defeating Georgia State 3-0, Appalachian State 3-0 on the road, and then winning 3-1 at home on Senior Day over the Mountaineers in the regular-season finale.
CONSISTENT WINNERS
The Chanticleers have won at least 18 matches eight times in 10 seasons under head coach
Jozsef Forman. In that span, CCU has also won four conference championship titles and averaged 19 wins per season.
7 CONFERENCE TOURNEY TITLES
Coastal Carolina has won seven conference championship tournaments in its 46-year history. Forman guided four Chanticleer teams to conference championships starting in 2014. With the Chants joining the Sun Belt in 2017, Forman's teams won three straight conference crowns.
Conference Championship Title Wins
Year Championship match Score
1996 vs. UMBC 3-0
1998 vs. Liberty 3-0
2009 vs. Liberty 3-1
2014 vs. Radford 3-2
2015 vs. Campbell 3-0
2016 vs. Arkansas State 3-1
2017 vs. Arkansas State 3-1
BUSINESS AS USUAL
CCU has had a lot of success in the Sun Belt Conference postseason tournament, as the Chanticleers have reached the championship match in four of the five years that they have been a member of the Sun Belt.
Championship Match Appearances
Year Result
2016 Champion W, 3-1
2017 Champion W, 3-1
2019 Runner-Up L, 1-3
2020 Runner-Up L, 2-3
TOPS IN SBC
The Chanticleers come into the SBC Championship Tournament ranked in the top-five in the Sun Belt Conference in several statistical categories.
Stat SBC Rank
Hitting Percentage .251 1st
Blocks per set 2.53 1st
Service aces per set 1.65 2nd
Opp. Hitting Percentage .168 3rd
Kills per set 13.0 3rd
Team Total Blocks 240.5 3rd
Team Service Aces 157 4th
PETRENKO = ACE
Junior setter
Brigitta Petrenko has been on point behind the service line again this season, as she leads the conference in both service aces (44) and services aces per set (0.46), which both rank 20th and 22nd nationally, respectively.
LINA CAN DIG IT
Junior libero
Lina Perugini has anchored the backline for the Chanticleers again this season. She leads the team and ranks fourth in the Sun Belt in digs per set (4.56) and sixth in the SBC in total digs (433).
NEUTRAL IN 2021
With the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament being held at a neutral site in Foley, Ala., the signs point in the right direction for the Chants.
The Chants were a perfect 2-0 this season on neutral courts with back-to-back wins over Northwestern State (Sept. 3) and UTSA (Sept. 4) at the Ole Miss Invitational.
Neutral Site Matches in 2021
Opponent Result
vs. Northwestern State W, 3-1
vs. UTSA W, 3-1
QUICK WORK
Coastal has made quick work of most of its opponents this season, as exactly half of their matches this season (13-of-26) have lasted just three sets.
Record by Match Sets
Sets Record
3 sets 9-4
4 sets 7-2
5 sets 2-2
SUN BELT STREAK SNAPPED
The Chants' had their Sun Belt Conference winning streak snapped at 28-straight wins with the 3-0 loss at Texas State (Oct. 22) in San Marcos, Texas.
CCU had won every SBC regular-season match dating all the way back to the 2019 season, when the Chants last lost on Nov. 2, 2019, at Troy.
Since that loss, the Chanticleers went 4-3 over the final seven Sun Belt Conference matches, falling at Troy (Oct. 29) and South Alabama (Oct. 31), and losing to Georgia Southern (Nov. 5) at home. CCU posted wins at UTA (Oct. 23), versus Georgia State (Nov. 7), and back-to-back matches against Appalachian State (Nov. 11 and 14).
CHEYENNE CHASING 1000
The Chants'
Cheyenne Jones has picked up 222 kills this season at CCU and combined with her 774 total kills at UTEP from 2017-21, she now has 996 career kills over her collegiate career.
ANI REACHES 1000
Super senior
Ani Bozdeva picked up her 1,000th-career kill in her collegiate career in the 3-0 sweep of UTA (Oct. 23).
With her 291 kills in 2017 at Eastern Arizona College and her 793 kills at CCU, Bozdeva enters the weekend with 1,084 career kills.
999 .... 1000
With a Coastal career-high 21 kills on Sept. 26 versus Arkansas State,
Doris Carter surpassed the 1,000-career kill mark, which also includes her time at South Florida and Alabama. With her 888 career kills at her previous two stops and her 246 kills at Coastal, Carter has recorded 1,134 careers over her collegiate career.
Junior
Lina Perugini picked up her 1,000th-career dig in the five-set victory over Georgia State (Oct. 2) where she had a match-high 23 digs. With her 1,189 career digs, the third-year libero is closing in on CCU's top-10 list.
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.
