CONWAY, S.C. – For the first time since the opening match of the season back in August, the Coastal Carolina volleyball was defeated at home inside the HTC Center, as Georgia Southern battled back to upset the Chanticleers 3-2 (25-17, 25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 9-15) in five sets on Friday night.
 
The loss snaps CCU's home-winning streak at 10 consecutive matches and ends its winning streak over the Georgia Southern Eagles at 13-straight, dating all the way back to 2009. The Chanticleers were a perfect 13-0 versus the Eagles since joining the Sun Belt in 2016.
 
The loss is the third straight for the Chanticleers who fall to 15-8 overall and 9-4 in Sun Belt play, while the Eagles improve to 14-9 and 7-6 in league play with the win.
 
The last time that the Chants lost three consecutive matches in conference play was in October 2018.
 
A trio of Chants finished with double-digit kills for the night in Ani Bozdeva (16), Doris Carter (15), and Cheyenne Jones (10), while libero Lina Perugini went over the 20-digs mark again with a match-high 26.
 
Setter Brigitta Petrenko recorded a double-double with 34 assists and 11 digs to go along with a team-high three service aces, as the Chants again struggled from the service line with eight aces compared to 12 service errors.
 
For the Eagles, Hannah McGlockton had a match-high 18 kills, set up by setter Madison Brown's 46 set assists to go along with her 11 digs for her double-double. Right-side hitter Robin Rosser finished with 10 kills, but most importantly posted a match-high .409 hitting percentage in the win.
 
Coastal opened up the match with a service ace from Petrenko but fell behind 2-1 early on a Petrenko service error and a McGlockton kill to start the first set.
 
After two more ties, the Chants took advantage of a GS service error and score four out of the next six points to pull on in front by four at 9-5 on a Jasmine Rivest kill and an Eagle attack error.
 
The Eagles closed the gap to within two multiple times over the next several rallies only to see the home-standing Chanticleers use another Eagles' service error to jump-start a 6-0 run highlighted by kills from Bozdeva, Christina Nance, and Jones to take a 17-9 lead and force a timeout.
 
Out of the break, the two teams traded points until a kill by Carter and a service ace from Perugini gave the Chants their largest lead of the set at 20-11.
 
CCU would hold on down the stretch to close out the opening set with a 25-17 win on back-to-back GS attack errors.
 
The second set played out much like the first, as the Chants tied the score up at 3-3 on back-to-back kills from Nance and a third one from Jones and used a 7-0 run to take a 7-3 lead early in the game.
 
That was all CCU would need, as the Chants never looked back, answering every Eagle tally with a point of their own to hold on to a 15-10 lead and force a Georgia Southern timeout.
 
The Eagles again got to within two of the Chants at 16-14 on a CCU attack error, yet couldn't get any closer as the home team, which hit .394 overall for the set, got three kills from Jones, two more from Carter, and the final two from Rivest to cruise to the 25-19 second-set win and take a 2-0 match lead.
 
Looking to complete the sweep, the Chants again posted a strong hitting percentage of .387 in the third set, however, it was overmatched by the Eagles' .424 percentage as the frame was tight throughout with six ties and two lead changes.
 
Georgia Southern again took a 3-0 lead out of the gate, yet this time held on to the lead for a few more points until back-t-back aces from Petrenko tied the match up at 5-5.
 
The two teams would swap points until another Eagles' service error and a kill by Carter put the home team on top by two at 9-7 before the Chants picked up two spikes each from Carter and Nyla Shepherd to run out to a 13-9 lead.
 
After two consecutive kills by Bozdeva and a Georgia Southern timeout, the visitors went on a 7-1 spurt to soar back into the lead at 18-16 on a kill by Brown.
 
CCU was able to tie the score up at 18-18 on back-to-back GS errors and again at 21-21 on a Marija Borcic service ace, yet was unable to retake the lead from the Eagles who scored four of the last five points to pick up the 25-22 third-set victory.
 
The fourth set saw just as many ties and even more lead changes than the third one, as both teams hit over .300 for the set with CCU at .316 and Georgia Southern at .326.
 
Neither team could pull away from the other to start the fourth frame, as the largest lead was just two twice, at 5-3 and 7-5 for the Chants.
 
Following two more ties and one more lead change, the Eagles strung together three-straight kills and used a 5-1 run over the Chants to take a 13-9 lead and force a Coastal timeout.
 
Back-to-back errors out of the timeout by Coastal, put the Chants down 15-9 and took the air out of the building as the Eagles pushed its lead out to seven at 17-10 on a Rosser kill.
 
Not to be counted out, the Chants used a 7-2 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-0 spurts and kills from Carter, Jones, and Nance, to get to within one of the Eagles at 19-18 and force a Georgia Southern timeout.
 
Coastal looked to have tied the set at 19-19 before a Petrenko kill was challenged by the Eagles and subsequently reversed to have a replay of the point. On the very next rally, the Chants gave the point to the Eagles with a service ace and fell behind by two at 20-18.
 
CCU got to within one point again of the Eagles at 20-19 and again at 21-20, yet couldn't retake the lead as the visitors held on for the 25-21 set win and tied the match up at 2-2.
 
The fifth set belonged to the Eagles, as Coastal played from behind for most of the decisive set, tying the set up at 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3, before a Maddie Bryant kill and back-to-back CCU attack errors put Georgia Southern in front by three at 6-3.
 
The two teams went point-for-point over the next several rallies until back-to-back Coastal points by way of a Brown service error and a combined Jones and Nance block at the net put the Chants down just one at 9-8.
 
However, the Eagles answered with two consecutive points of their own to pull back out in front by three at 11-8 before closing out the match with back-to-back kills from Rosser and Baylor Bumford to put the final score at 15-9.
 
Overall, Coastal outhit the Eagles .270 to .220 and had 10.0 total team blocks to their 8.0. CCU also held an advantage in digs at 72-60, however, the Eagles had 10 service aces to the Chants' eight.
 
The Chanticleers will look to bounce back on Sunday, as they will host Georgia State at HTC Center at noon ET. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.

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.