CONWAY, S.C. – The Chanticleer women's volleyball team opens the 2021 regular season as they host the Coastal Carolina Invitational. Three matches will be played this weekend at the HTC Center with Coastal opening up versus Duke on Friday at 6 p.m. ET CCU will close out the weekend with Iowa on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Both matches will be available on ESPN+.

Face coverings WILL BE required for admission to all indoor Coastal Carolina home athletic events for 2021-22. Coastal Carolina and the Department of Athletics are committed to providing a safe environment for the enjoyment of our patrons that attend our home intercollegiate athletic events. Individuals that disregard health and safety protocols may be asked to leave.
 
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
vs. Duke | Friday, Aug. 27, 6 p.m. ET
vs. Iowa | Saturday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m. ET

OPENING NOTES

• Coastal Carolina comes into the season as the favorite to win the Sun Belt Conference East Division as voted on the league's 10 coaches. The Chanticleers will take on two non-conference familiar foes, Duke and Iowa to begin the 2021 regular season.
• The Chanticleers will play their first non-conference opponent since they took on Lipscomb at the Hawkeye Invitational on Sept. 21, 2019.
• The Chanticleers are 20-17 in season-opening matches in their history.*  In the nine-year tenure of head coach Jozsef Forman, the Chants are 5-4, winners of their last two and five of their last six matches. Forman's teams have played nine different conference opponents in that span. Duke becomes the second ACC school to be the first repeat conference. *available records

 
SERIES HISTORY - DUKE

• Coastal Carolina is 0-3 all-time against the Blue Devils in a series that began in 1998.
• The Chants were swept in all three matches against the Duke, including the last on Sept. 7, 2018, when then-freshman Ani Bozdeva had six kills for CCU.

 
SERIES HISTORY - IOWA

• Coastal Carolina is 1-6 all-time against the Hawkeyes in a series that began in 2005.
• The Chanticleers lost the first six matches in the series but were able to knock off Iowa in 2019 by the score of 3-1 (25-18, 14-25, 25-20, 25-16) in Iowa City, Iowa. Anett Nemeth led the CCU in the match with a double-double, 16 kills, 11 blocks, in the victory.

 
A GLIMPSE AT DUKE

• Duke was 9-13 overall in 2020 with an ACC conference record of 7-10.
• The Blue Devils had five wins that came in 3-0 sweeps.
• Ade Owokonian was the 2020 Duke kills leader with 243.
• Defensive specialist Mackenzie Cole was named to the 2021 Preseason All-ACC Team

 
A GLIMPSE AT IOWA

• Iowa played an all-conference schedule during 2020 and had a Big Ten record of 4-16.
• Three of the four Hawkeye wins went at least 4 sets. The lone sweep occurred on March 27 versus Michigan State.
• Courtney Buzzerio led the Hawkeyes with 184 kills in 2020, while being named AVCA North Region Honorable Mention.

 
LOOKING BUILD OFF 2020

• With all-American Anett Nemeth opting not to return to CCU for the 2021 season, 2020 all-conference performers, Ani Bozdeva, Brigitta Petrenko, and Lina Perugini lead the Chants into 2021 as they look to build on their numbers that saw them first in the conference with a .276 hitting percentage, .119 opp. hitting percentage, 8.94 opponents assists/set and 9.67 opponent kills/set, 1.68 aces/set, and 11.88 opponent digs/set.

 
TWO NAMED PRE-SEASON SUN BELT ALL-CONFERENCE

• On Aug. 17, Brigitta Petrenko and Ani Bozdeva were named 2021 Preseason Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference. Since their addition to the conference in 2016, the Chanticleers have earned eight preseason all-conference selections.

 
PETRENKO CONTINUES TO MOVE UP IN THE RECORD BOOK

• Junior setter Brigitta Petrenko starts the season off ninth all-time in school history with 1796 career assists. She currently is 204 assists shy of the 2000 career mark and 271 shy of 2014 graduate Sam Skyrd's 2067 tally for eighth all-time.

 
BOZDEVA SIGHTS 1000 KILLS

• Super senior Ani Bozdeva comes into the season with 811 career kills in her three years with CCU and one at Eastern Arizona. From 2018 to the present, the Bulgaria native has amassed 520 Coastal Carolina career kills, adding onto her 291 in 2017 at Eastern Arizona.

 
CCU ADDS THREE GRAD TRANSFERS WITH DI EXPERIENCE

• Graduates Ella Saada, Cheyenne Jones, and Doris Carter have played in a combined 261 career matches in their NCAA volleyball careers. Saada has 891 career kills in four years at Syracuse. Jones spent four years with UTEP where she tallied 774 putaways, and Carter notched 887 kills in four years between USF and Alabama.

 
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.