BOONE, N.C. – Coastal Carolina's super senior Ella Saada had a career night as she led the CCU volleyball team to its 11th-consecutive win over App State, 3-2 (16-25, 25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 15-8) in Boone, N.C. on Friday night. With the win, CCU improved to 12-5 overall and at 4-0 in Sun Belt Conference play, while the Mountaineers fell to 7-8 overall and are still winless at 0-4 in the conference.
 
CCU's Saada finished with a career-high 29 kills to lead the offensive attack, while redshirt junior Jasmine Rivest (9), redshirt freshman Valentina Varani (8), and super senior Paulina Perez Rosas (4) combined for 21 spikes. Senior setter Brigitta Petrenko tallied 50 assists while adding two service aces. The Eger, Hungary, native is two service aces away from matching former Chant Jennifer Hampton's 181 career service aces.
 
Defensively, middle hitter Varani finished with eight blocks with Petrenko added seven swats. Senior defensive specialist Lina Perugini and Petrenko had 22 and 16 digs, respectively.
 
In the opening set, Appalachian State raced out to an early five-point lead aided by four miscues by the Chanticleers to force CCU into its first timeout of the set. Coastal responded by outscoring the host team 2-1 highlighted by a pair of service aces by Nyla Shepherd to cut the Mountaineers' lead to 11-9 and force an App State timeout.
 
Coming out of the timeout, the Mountaineers surged to a 22-12 lead with an 11-3 run just before CCU attempted to come from behind with a 3-0 run sparked by a Saada kill. App State closed the first set with a 3-1 run to pick up the set-one win at 25-16.
 
Despite being down 1-0 in the match, Coastal opened the second set with a 5-2 burst, highlighted by a pair of Petrenko service aces. The home-standing Mountaineers answered with a 3-1 run to cut the Chants' lead to 6-5 before CCU pushed its lead to five at 11-6 sparked by an Agata Lesiak kill.
 
After App State cut the lead to 14-11, Coastal pulled out to an 18-11 advantage as a service ace and kill by Saada forced the Mountaineers to call its first timeout coming out of the media timeout. However, App State battled back to even the set up at 20-20 with a 9-2 surge. The Chanticleers evened the match up at 1-1 with a 4-1 run highlighted by three kills by Saada.
 
The third set opened sloppily as both teams committed a combined five errors with Coastal taking a 5-3 lead on kills by Christina Nance and Perez Rosas. CCU increased its lead to 11-4 with a 6-1 run as Varani put down a pair of spikes. However, the mistakes continued to add up for both teams, as four straight miscues forced the Chants to call its first timeout of the set while holding a 13-9 lead.
 
Coming out of the timeout, CCU's Varani spike pushed the lead to five at 14-9 before the Mountaineers fought their way to even the set up at 18-18. Coastal outscored App State 7-2 to take a 2-1 match lead with the 25-20 set-three win, highlighted by three kills by Saada.
 
With the visitors holding a 2-1 match advantage, the Mountaineers raced out to a 7-3 lead only to see the Chanticleers battle back to take a 9-8 advantage with a 6-1 burst with spikes by Saada, Varani, and Lesiak. However, the home team raced back out in front at 14-11 with a 6-2 run of its own.
 
After both teams traded points, Coastal fought back to take a 17-15 lead sparked by a Mountaineer error and capped by a Rivest spike. App State regained control at 20-18 with a 5-1 surge to force the Chants to call a timeout. CCU responded with two points by Rivest by way of a kill and a service ace to even the set up at 20-20. The Mountaineers called their final timeout of the set after both teams traded the next six points with the set all square at 23-23. The home team capitalized and put down a pair of kills to even the match at 2-2 with the 25-23 set-four win.
 
In the fifth and final set, CCU's Saada, Rivest, and Varani all put down spikes to push Coastal out to a 7-3 lead. Appalachian State scored four of the next six points to cut the visitor's lead to 9-7 before the Chanticleers closed out the set by scoring six of the next seven points, highlighted by five kills by Saada to earn the 11th-consecutive win for Coastal over the Mountaineers at 3-2.
 
Coastal Carolina will return home on Friday, Oct. 7, as the Chants will host Georgia Southern at 6 p.m. ET at the HTC Center in Conway, S.C.
 
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.