GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Coastal Carolina women's volleyball team fell in three sets (22-25, 19-25, 15-25) to the No. 14 Florida Gators on Saturday at the O'Connell Center.
The Chanticleers fall to 6-3 overall on the season, snapping a four-match winning streak after the first-ever matchup with the Gators.
Graduate student Doris Carter led CCU with her fourth double-digit kill match of the season. The outside hitter collected 13 kills and recorded two blocks in the match.
Florida jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the first set, but the Chants chipped away and won six of the next seven points to take their first lead of the match at 10-9. Super senior Ani Bozdeva fueled the Chanticleers' run with two of her five kills in set one. Florida went on to win the hard-fought first set, 25-22. Coastal remained within two points or less for much of the latter half of the set, earning a tie on two occasions. CCU used a strong service game in the first set with three aces from juniors Ilse Sinnige, Brigitta Petrenko, and senior Marija Borcic to go along Carter's team-high five kills.
UF opened up an 8-5 advantage in the second set, but Coastal surged back to tie the score at 10-10 from kills from Sinnige, Carter, Bozdeva, and redshirt sophomore Jasmine Rivest. That was the closest CCU would remain in set two as Florida earned the 25-19. There were five ties in the second period as Carter continued her hot hitting, while trying to keep the Chants alive. The Lexington, Ky. native had four kills in the set with a hitting percentage of .429.
The Gators held CCU to a team hitting percentage of .065 in the final set, while hitting .357 in the 25-15 win. Sofia Victoria had six of her match-high 14 kills in the third-set win for Florida.
T'ara Ceasar also had a double-digit kill day for Florida as she collected 13.
Gators' setter Monica Monserez had a match-high 38 assists in the victory.
Petrenko led CCU with 18 assists in Saturday's match.
The Chanticleers' outside hitter Rivest fell one kill shy of her season-high eight kills in the three-set loss.
Coastal Carolina returns to action tomorrow, Sept. 19 at 1 p.m. ET in a rematch with the Gators at the O'Connell Center. The match will be available on SEC+.
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.
