CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina's Ella Saada and Jasmine Rivest led the Chanticleers to a 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 26-28, 15-11) victory over the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday afternoon at the HTC Center on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. The Chants improved to 14-5 overall and remained unbeaten in Sun Belt Conference action at 6-0, while the Eagles fell to 10-6 on the year and dropped to 2-2 in the conference.
 
Coastal's offense combined for 73 total kills on the day led by Saada and Rivest (a new career-high) with 19 each, while Christina Nance (9) and Kendall Harris (career-high 8) just missed recording double-digit put downs. Senior setter Brigitta Petrenko tallied 52 assists to go along with six kills and one service ace. Petrenko's third set service ace etched the Eger, Hungary, native to the top of the program's all-time career service aces.
 
Defensively for the Chants, Nance totaled three blocks, while Saada, Harris, and Valentina Varani had two stops apiece. Saada recorded 17 digs to lead five Chanticleers with double-digit digs, with defensive specialist Lina Perugini, Petrenko, Paulina Perez Rosas, and Jexsamarie Perez adding 16, 14, 11, and 11 digs, respectively.
 
Both teams opened the match evenly, feeling each other out by trading the first 17 points for a 9-8 CCU advantage before the Eagles scored four unanswered points to take a 12-9 lead. After trading the next six points, Coastal responded with a 5-1 run to take a 17-16 lead, highlighted by kills by Perez Rosas and Harris.
 
After Georgia Southern took a two-point lead, Coastal answered with a 3-0 burst to take a 22-21 lead on a pair of kills by Saada to force the Eagles to call their first timeout of the set. Georgia Southern came out of the timeout to get the final four points to steal a 25-21 opening-set win for the Eagles.
 
Trailing 1-0 in the match, Coastal raced out to the 8-4 lead in set two by using a 5-0 run with Perez serving for five consecutive points, highlighted by kills by Rivest and Petrenko. The Chanticleers opened a seven-point lead at 15-8 with the help of four errors by the visitors from Georgia Southern. The Eagles cut CCU's lead to 15-12 with four unanswered points just before Coastal opened a 21-12 lead sparked by a spike by Nance and capped by a put down by Rivest.
 
The two teams traded points with the Chants holding a 24-15 advantage before Georgia Southern pulled within four at 24-20 with four Chanticleer errors. CCU's Saada evened the match up at 1-1 with her second kill of the set to give Coastal Carolina the 25-20 set-two win.
 
The third set opened the same way as the two previous two sets, with both teams trading points to put the score at 5-5 before the Eagles scored back-to-back points by way of a Chanticleer miscue. Coastal responded with a 4-0 surge to take a 9-6 lead highlighted by three-consecutive spikes by Saada. After a handful of errors by both teams gave Coastal a 14-10 lead, CCU took a five-point advantage on the record-breaking service ace by Petrenko at 18-13 and forced the Eagles to call a timeout.
 
Coming out of the timeout, the visitors attempted to pry the momentum away with a quick pair of points to cut the Chanticleers' lead to 18-15. Coastal responded by outscoring the Eagles 7-3, highlighted by two kills each by Rivest and Varani, for the 25-18 third-set win and 2-1 match lead.
 
With the momentum in their corner, the Chants opened the fourth set with a quick pair of points on spikes by Saada and Harris. Georgia Southern scored 10 unanswered to open a 10-2 advantage before Coastal began to claw its way back into the match. CCU outscored the visiting Eagles 13-3, sparked by a miscue by Georgia Southern and capped by a Petrenko put down for the 15-13 advantage coming out of an Eagle timeout.
 
However, Georgia Southern answered with a 10-3 burst of its own to take a 23-18 lead only to see the Chanticleers battle back to even the set at 24-24. The two teams traded a pair of points before the Eagles closed out the fourth set with a 28-26 win to even the match at two sets each.
 
In the fifth and final set, CCU jumped out to an 8-2 advantage, highlighted by four put-a-ways by Rivest only to see the Eagles attempt a comeback bid by doubling the home team's points at 8-4 and cut the lead to 12-10. Both teams traded the next six points with the Chanticleers' Rivest hitting her career-high 19th spike to close out the set at 15-11 and give the home-standing Chants the 3-2 match win.
 
Coastal Carolina will return to action in the first of four consecutive road matches beginning with Old Dominion on Friday, Oct. 14, at 6:30 p.m. ET, in Norfolk, 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.