BOONE, N.C. – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team fell in the opening match 3-1 (25-18, 25-27, 25-21, 25-21) to the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Thursday evening in Boone, N.C. With the loss, the Chanticleers drop to 8-12 overall and 4-5 in the Sun Belt, while App State improves to 11-7 on the season and 5-2 in league play with the win.
Jalyn Stout tallied a match-high 12 kills to go along with 21 assists to lead the Chants' offense, while
Lauren Malone and
Emily Fowler finished with 11 kills, apiece.
Cagla Bengi tallied with 16 assists.
Defensively, CCU totaled 11 blocks as
Valentina Varani stopped six kill attempts, while
Agata Lesiak and
Dilara Unal blocked five and three attempts at the net, respectively.
Sydney Lewis finished with a match-high 16 digs as Stout added 12 digs to record her 12th triple-double.
The Mountaineers were paced by May Winterhoff and Ava Leahy with a match-high 12 kills each, with Bella Hutchens (11), Elise Marchal (11), and Lulu Ambrose (10) reaching double-digit kills. Addison Heidemann finished with a match-high 42 assists.
Appalachian State stopped 12 CCU kill attempts with Leahy blocking nine spikes at the net. Marchal totaled with 16 digs, while Heidemann and Caroline Farthing added 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
In the opening set, the two teams traded the first 12 rallies as the score remained deadlocked at 6-6 before the home-standing Mountaineers outscored the Chanticleers 4-2 to lead 10-8. Coastal Carolina battled back to even the score at 12-12, highlighted by kills by Stout,
Emma Van Elslande, and Lesiak. The Mountaineers used a 13-6 spurt to claim the opening set 25-18 to lead the match 1-0.
CCU raced out to a 9-5 lead in set number two, sparked by a Van Elslande kill and capped by a Varani putdown. Appalachian State responded with a 6-1 burst to take a 12-10 lead before increasing its lead to 16-12 by doubling the Chants with a 4-2 run. Coastal answered with a 9-1 surge to lead 19-17, which included kills by
Lauren Malone, Fowler, and Lesiak.
After a pair of quick points, the Mountaineers evened the score at 19-19 before the two teams traded the next 11 points to give App State a 25-24 advantage. The Chanticleers' Unal hit a pair of service aces for two of the final three points of the set to even the match at 1-1 with the 27-25 second-set win.
In the third set, Appalachian State and Coastal traded the first 10 rallies to remain even at 5-5 before the Chants opened a four-point advantage at 11-7, highlighted by kills by Varani, Malone, and Bengi. The Mountaineers rallied by scoring eight of the next 12 points to knot the score at 15-15. After a pair of CCU points, App State pushed in front 21-17 with a 6-2 run. Coastal cut the deficit three at 22-19 on a kill by Stout before getting outscored 3-2 to fall 25-21 in the third set.
In the final set, the two teams traded the first eight rallies to remain even at 4-4 before a 6-1 Mountaineer burst forced Coastal to call a timeout trailing 10-5. After the break, the Chanticleers cut the lead to 11-10 with a 6-1 surge, which included a pair of kills by Malone. App State opened a seven-point lead at 21-14 with a 10-4 spurt.
CCU cut the deficit to 24-21 with a 7-3 run only to see Mountaineers win the match 3-1 with a 25-21 victory.
Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State will meet on Friday, Oct. 25, at the Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, N.C. The opening serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.
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.
