COLLEGE PARK, MD. – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team split a pair of matches with the Princeton Tigers and the Maryland Terrapins at the Maryland Tournament in College Park, Md., on Friday. With the split, the Chanticleers moved to 3-5 overall, while the Tigers and the Terrapins moved to 2-2 and 5-2, respectively.
 
For the day, Jasmine Rivest, Agata Lesiak, and Lauren Malone finished with 43, 23, and 21 kills, respectively, while Cagla Bengi finished with 99 assists.
 
DiLara Unal and Valentina Varani paced the defense with 10 and nine blocks, respectively, while Bailee Earnhardt totaled 35 digs on the day with Rivest adding 20 digs.
 
Coastal 3, Princeton 1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 25-16)
 
In the win against the Tigers, the duo of Rivest and Lesiak led the offensive attack for the Chants, as Rivest finished with a team-high 21 kills, followed by Lesiak and Malone with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. CCU finished with 50 assists, with Bengi (43) and Earnhardt (5) totaling 48 combined.
 
Defensively, the Chants' Varani and Lesiak had eight and three blocks, respectively, while libero Earnhardt finished with a match-high 17 digs.
 
CCU fell behind early in the opening set as Princeton took a 3-0 advantage but was unable to keep the Chanticleers at bay. Coastal used a 3-0 run to even the set at 3-3. After a quick point by Princeton, CCU used a second 3-0 burst to push in front 6-4, highlighted by a service ace by Unal. The two teams traded points before the Tigers evened the match at 13-13 on a put away by Kamryn Chaney.
 
The Chants powered their way to a 16-13 advantage with kills by Rivest and Varani only to see Princeton fight back to trail by one at 19-18. Coastal increased its lead to 23-18 sparked by a Rivest spike and capped off by a Tiger miscue. The two teams traded points with the Chanticleers earning the first-set win at 25-21 with a Lesiak kill.
 
Princeton jumped out to the early 3-0 lead in the second set before Coastal Carolina answered with a 4-2 spurt to trail 5-4. After the Tigers answered with a 6-1 run for an 9-5 advantage, Coastal closed the deficit to 11-10 with a 6-2 burst. After trading the next seven points, the Chants pulled even with Princeton with a 4-1 run, highlighted by two Tiger mistakes.
 
However, the Tigers pushed in front 20-16 with a 6-2 burst only to see the Chanticleers respond with two quick points. The two teams traded the next 11 points with Princeton holding on for the 25-22 second-set win to even the match at 1-1.
 
In the third set of their first match, the Chanticleers raced to a 10-3 lead, ignited by a put down by Rivest and capped by a pair of kills by Malone. The Tigers kept the match close answering each CCU point to trail 11-5, just to see the Chants use a pair of small spurts to take control of the set and surge in front 21-11. However, Princeton answered with an 8-1 run to narrow the margin to 22-19 just to see the Chanticleers claim a 2-1 match advantage with a 3-1 run for the 25-20 third-set win.
 
In the fourth and final set of the opening match, Coastal muscled its way to a 9-3 lead, highlighted by a 5-0 burst that included a pair of kills by Malone. The Tigers fought back to trail by three with a 5-2 run only to see the Chants use a second 5-0 run to double up their opponents from the Ivy League at 16-8. After Princeton doubled up Coastal, the Tigers comeback attempt was halted when the Chants used a 4-0 run to lead 23-13, highlighted by two kills by Varani. CCU claimed the match 3-1 with the 25-16 fourth-set victory on a kill by Rivest.
 
Maryland 3, Coastal 2 (25-16, 25-23, 21-25, 25-27, 15-13)
 
In the loss to Maryland, the Chanticleers fell behind 5-2 before the visitors in Teal and Bronze battled back to trail 5-4. However, the Terrapins pushed in front at 11-6 before taking a 17-9 advantage with 6-3 run. After two quick points by the Chanticleers, Maryland pushed in front 21-12 with a 4-1 burst. The two teams traded the next eight points with the host Terps earning the 25-16 set-one win.
 
Coastal and Maryland opened the second set by trading the first 18 points for an even score at 9-9 only to see the Terrapins surge in front 13-9 with a 4-0 run. The Chants maintained the four-point deficit with Unal and Rivest teaming up for the block and an Unal spike. After the homestanding Terps pushed their lead to 18-12 and forced CCU to call a timeout, the Chants responded with a 4-0 run to narrow the margin to 18-16, highlighted by a pair of kills by Rivest.
 
Maryland pushed its way to lead 23-19 and forced the Chants to call their final timeout after a 4-0 burst. Coastal answered with a 4-1 run to pull within one point at 24-23 ignited by a Maryland miscue and capped by a pair of Lesiak kills. The Terrapins called a timeout to cool off the Chanticleers and claimed the second-set win at 25-23.
 
Coastal began the third set with an 8-5 burst, just to see the Terrapins fight back to trail in the match at 10-9, highlighted by a pair of kills by Rivest. The two teams traded points until the Chants took advantage of a Maryland error to push in front 15-11 and continued to trade points with Coastal maintaining a slim advantage at 20-15.
 
However, Maryland would pull to within two points at 22-20 with a 5-2 run only to see the Chants earn the 25-21 set-three win with back-to-back kills by Rivest.
 
The Chanticleers pushed out to a 11-8 lead to open the fourth set, sparked by six put downs combined by both Rivest (4) and Malone (2). Coastal continued to open its advantage by doubling up the Terrapins, highlighted by kills by Bengi, Rivest, Malone, and Varani for a 17-12 lead. Maryland jumped in front at 20-19 with an 8-2 run only to see Coastal answer with 8-5 run to claim the 27-25 fourth-set victory on three-straight kills by Malone.
 
In the fifth and final set, the Terrapins raced out to a 4-1 advantage and forced the Chants to call their first timeout. After the break, CCU evened the set at 4-4 with a 3-0 surge, highlighted on kills by Varani and Lesiak. Maryland increased its lead to 9-6, forcing the Chanticleers to call their last timeout. After regrouping, CCU used a 3-0 run to even the match at 9-9, ignited by a Rivest put down and capped by a UMD miscue. The Terrapins pushed in front with a 4-1 burst to lead 13-10 only to see the Chants fight back with a 3-1 surge and trail 14-13. However, the Terps claimed the final kill for the final margin of 15-13 for Maryland to pick up the 3-2 match win.
 
Coastal Carolina volleyball will return to action against the University of Virginia on Saturday, Sept. 9, as the Chants will travel to Baltimore, Md., for a match on the campus of UMBC.
 
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.