CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team will return to the friendly confines of the HTC Center for a pair of home contests against the Georgia Southern Eagles in Sun Belt Conference play. The two teams will meet on Friday, Oct. 7, at 6 p.m. ET, and again on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 2 p.m. ET in Conway, S.C.
Coastal Carolina's match on Saturday will be the Dig Pink fundraiser in partnership with the American Cancer Society (ACS). The ACS will be on campus collecting donations during the match, with all proceeds benefiting the research and treatment of women's breast cancer.
HISTORY BETWEEN COASTAL & GEORGIA SOUTHERN
In the previous 24 meetings against the Eagles, Coastal holds a 21-3 all-time series advantage. The Chants' 13 match win streak was snapped last year, as Georgia Southern earned a 3-2 win (17-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-9) in the last meeting on Nov. 5, 2021, in Conway.
ABOUT COASTAL
The Chanticleers are 12-5 overall and 4-0 in Sun Belt play on the season, after taking down App State in both matchups last week to extend their winning streak to 11 consecutive games over the Mountaineers. Outside hitter
Ella Saada led the Chants' offense with 52 kills in both contests, while setter
Brigitta Petrenko tallied 92 assists, eight kills, and five service aces. Defensively, CCU blocked a combined 18 shots as
Valentina Varani,
Nyla Shepherd and Petrenko finished with nine, nine, and six stops, respectively.
For her play, Saada picked up SBC honors by being named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
This season, the Chants' offense is led by
Paulina Perez Rosas with 166 kills on the year, while
Agata Lesiak and Saada have added 123 and 119 spikes, respectively. Petrenko is the team's assist and service ace leader, as the Eger, Hungary, native has 552 assists and 31 service aces in the first 17 matches this year. Petrenko's 31 service aces for the season have her only three shy from setting a new program record for career aces.
Defensively, Coastal Carolina has totaled 149 blocks as a team, highlighted by
Christina Nance with a total of 50 blocks, Shepherd with 42 blocks, and Petrenko and Perez Rosas with 37 and 27 blocks, respectively. Perugini has picked up 283 digs in the 61 sets played giving the Bethlehem, Pa., native 1,506 career digs. Perugini surpassed both Megan Pollard (2006-09) and Lindsay Gill (2010-13) for fourth on the all-time digs list and is three shy of Katie Knutson (1999-02) for third all-time.
ABOUT GEORGIA SOUTHERN
Georgia Southern will enter play this weekend with a 10-2 overall record and sit at 2-0 in conference action. The Eagles were set to play Old Dominion, but due to the pending implications from Hurricane Ian both matches scheduled for Friday, Sept. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 1, were canceled and will not be rescheduled.
As a team, the Eagles have recorded 582 kills, 532 assists, and 86 service aces on the offensive attack. Emily Jarome leads the attack with 150 spikes, while Paige Powers and Baylor Bumford have put down 105 and 76 kills, respectively. Setter Callaway Cason leads the team with 445 set assists, while Ashlyn Lovett (30), Meredith Eckard (15), and Cason (10) have 55 of the Georgia Southern 86 service aces.
Defensively, the Eagles have stopped 93.5 kill attempts while also digging 735 of their opponent's shots. The net is protected by Bumford (36), Grace Underwood (32), and Cason (23), as they are the only Georgia Southern blockers with 20 or more stops on the season. Defensive specialist Lovett leads the team with 213 digs, along with Cason, who has added 104 digs on the year.
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.
