CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team overpowered the TCU Horned Frogs with a 3-1 win on Thursday evening at the CCU's HTC Center. With the win, the Chanticleers improved to 2-2, while the Horned Frogs remained winless at 0-3.
Coastal was led by the duo of
Jasmine Rivest (15 kills, 12 digs) and
Jalyn Stout (12 kills, 14 assists) as they tallied double-doubles to lead the offense. Rivest totaled four service aces, while
Cagla Bengi finished with two service aces to go with her team-high 19 assists.
Defensively, Coastal tallied six blocks on the night with
Agata Lesiak finishing with five blocks and
DiLara Unal aiding with three blocks on the front line. Stout just missed out on a third-straight triple-double with nine digs to go along with Rivest team-high 12 digs and the 10 digs by
Sydney Lewis.
TCU was led by Jalyn Gibson with 20 kills and 11 digs, Melanie Parra with 19 kills and 10 digs, and Audrey Nalls with 12 kills in her return to action. Riley Buckley assisted on 47 of the Horned Frogs points.
The opening set saw both teams go back-and-forth trading points and unable to distance themselves from each other. Coastal quickly jumped out to a two-point advantage at 4-2, highlighted on three points by Unal. After the two teams traded points, TCU responded with a 3-0 burst to take a 7-6 lead.
Coastal answered with a 6-3 run to push in front of the Horned Frogs at 13-10. However, TCU rallied with a set-high 4-0 blitz to take a slim advantage at 15-14 only to see CCU use a 6-2 surge to claim a second three-point lead at 20-17. The visitors from Fort Worth, Texas, answered with a 6-2 run to take a 23-22 lead late in the first set.
However, the Chanticleers would not go away quietly and battled back to push in front at 25-24, highlighted by a pair of service errors by the visitors in purple. After trading the next six points, CCU called its final timeout of the first set trailing 28-27 just to use a 3-0 surge on kills by Lesiak, Unal, and Stout to claim the opening set 30-28.
In the second set, TCU doubled up the Chants 6-3 just to see the Chanticleers surge in front 11-6 by way of an 8-0 run, sparked by a Horned Frog miscue and capped off by a spike by Rivest. CCU increased its lead to 14-7 on back-to-back kills by Stout just to see TCU battle back with a 3-0 run to trail 14-10.
Coastal pushed its advantage to 19-12 with a 5-2 run, highlighted by a pair of kills by Malone. With the Chanticleers holding the seven-point lead, the Horned Frogs outscored the Ladies in Teal 10-6. CCU claimed a 25-22 second-set win to lead the match 2-0.
In the third set, both teams traded the first eight points to remain deadlocked at 4-4, however, the Horned Frogs surged to 13-7 advantage and forced the Chants to call their first timeout of the set. Coming out of the break, Coastal closed the gap to 15-12 using a 5-2 surge, highlighted by kills by Stout, Rivest, and Malone.
The Horned Frogs increased their lead to 23-15 with an 8-3 run only to see the homestanding Chants battle back to trail 24-22 with a 7-1 burst, sparked by a TCU miscue and capped by a Varani kill. The Horned Frogs claimed the 25-22 third-set win to trail in the match 2-1.
The fourth and final set began like the previous as each team traded the first 23 points with Coastal holding a 12-11 advantage. The Chanticleers took command with a 9-1 run, highlighted by Lesiak getting three kills and a block to push CCU in front at 20-13.
Coastal played TCU even over the final nine points for the 25-17 fourth-set win and claim the 3-1 match win.
Coastal Carolina will return to action on Friday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. ET, and host the North Florida Ospreys.
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.
