HARRISONBURG, Va. – Coastal Carolina's volleyball team fell 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 18-25, 17-25) to Sun Belt Conference newcomer James Madison Thursday evening in Harrisonburg, Va. The Chanticleers dropped to 15-7 overall and 7-2 in SBC action with the loss, while JMU improved to 14-4 on the year and 8-1 in league play with the win.
CCU's offense was once again led by
Ella Saada with 17 kills, while
Christina Nance and
Jasmine Rivest finished with 10 kills each. The 10 kills for Nance were a new career-high for the Bowie, Md., native. Setter
Brigitta Petrenko tallied 39 assists, along with adding two kills and one service ace.
As a team, Coastal finished with eight blocks on the night, with
Nyla Shepherd leading the way with five blocks, while Nance and
Kendall Harris had three stops each. Defensive specialist
Lina Perugini (11), Petrenko (8), Saada (7), and
Jexsamarie Perez (7) combined for 33 of the team's 45 digs.
After both teams traded the first eight points of the opening set, James Madison by way of a 3-0 surge took a 7-4 advantage. The Dukes opened a five-point lead three times, the last at 14-9, as the host squad answered every attempt to rally by the visitors from Conway, S.C.
Coastal Carolina fought back to within one at 14-13 highlighted by three-consecutive attack errors by JMU. The Dukes pushed their lead to 20-14 with a 6-1 run, before the Chanticleers battled back to put the score at 23-20 by doubling up the home team, sparked by a JMU service error and capped by a Perez service ace. After James Madison was forced to call a timeout to regroup, the Dukes claimed the opening set 25-20 with the final two points.
Despite trailing in the match 1-0, Coastal opened the second set by outscoring James Madison 8-1 by way of four Chanticleer spikes and a pair of block assists by the tandem of Shepherd and Petrenko to force JMU to use its first timeout of the set. Following the timeout, the Dukes fought back at 8-5 with four unanswered points.
Coastal opened a 15-7 advantage by outscoring JMU 7-2, sparked by a Shepherd spike and capped by a block assist by Nance and Harris to force the Dukes to call their second timeout of the set. Out of the timeout, Coastal opened an 11-point lead at 19-8 with a 4-1 burst, highlighted by a pair of JMU miscues. The Chanticleers evened the match at 1-1 with the 25-16 second-set victory by trading the final 14 points.
James Madison opened the third set with a 7-2 lead before the Chants answered with a 6-1 run to even the set at 8-8, sparked by a Petrenko kill and capped by a block assist by Nance and Harris. The two teams traded the next 11 points with CCU taking a 14-13 on a JMU service error.
The Dukes jumped in front with a 3-0 surge that forced Coastal to call its first timeout of the set after a pair of Chanticleer attack errors. CCU came out of the timeout attempting to take control, as a Nance spike pulled the Chants to within one at 16-15 before the host team outscored the Chanticleers 9-3 to pick up the third-set win at 25-18 and take a 2-1 match advantage.
In the fourth and final set, James Madison doubled up Coastal Carolina at 6-3 before the Chants battled back to even the set at 7-7 with a 4-1 run, highlighted by a Saada spike. After the Dukes answered with a 4-1 surge for the 11-8 advantage, both teams traded the next six points for the 14-11 JMU lead.
James Madison opened its lead to 19-13 with a 5-2 run, just before doubling the Chants 6-3 down the stretch to claim the match 3-1 with the 25-16 win in the fourth set.
Coastal Carolina and James Madison will meet for the second time in as many days, as the two teams will take to the court on Friday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. ET in Harrisonburg, Va.
For complete coverage of CCU women's 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.
