MOBILE, ALA. – Agata Lesiak led the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to a 3-2 (19-25, 30-28, 29-27, 21-25, 16-14) five-set win over the South Alabama Jaguars in Mobile, Ala., on Saturday afternoon.
 
Coastal (12-16, 7-9 SBC) saw Lesiak finish with a career-high 22 kills to lead the offense, while Jalyn Stout and Emily Fowler finished with 19 kills each with Lauren Malone and Emma Van Elslande adding 10. Stout tallied a team-high 33 assists, while Ava Wallis and Sydney Lewis had 29 and 12 helpers, respectively.
 
Defensively, CCU totaled nine blocks as Dilara Unal, Lesiak, and Fowler blocked four kill attempts each, while Van Elslande stopped two at the net. Lewis tallied a team-high 44 digs to help the offense get back on track, while Stout (25) finished with double-digit digs, as Stout recorded her 18th triple-double of the season and 32nd of her career.
 
South Alabama (15-11, 11-5 SBC) was led by Sarah Gooch with a match-high 25 kills, while Lillie Simons, Abryanna Cannon, and Maradith O'Gorman tallied 14, 14, and 12 spikes, respectively. Anna Loberg finished with a match-high 65 assists.
 
The Jags stopped 14 Chanticleer kill attempts with Gooch, Simons, and Aniston Cochran making six stops, while Cannon, O'Gorman, and Loberg had two blocks. Briana Wilson totaled a team-high 28 digs, while Loberg (19), Addison Hurst (14), O'Gorman (12), and Cannon (10) tallied double-digit digs.
 
In the first set, the two teams traded the first 20 points with the score remaining even at 10-10 before the Jaguars used a 9-4 run to take a 19-14 lead. A kill by CCU's Lesiak followed by Van Elslande's service ace forced USA to call its first timeout of the set with the Chants trailing 19-16. After the break, South Alabama outscored Coastal Carolina 6-3 to win the opening set 25-19.
 
Despite trailing the match 1-0, the Chanticleers raced to an 11-3 lead to begin the second set, highlighted by two kills each by Fowler and Van Elslande. The Jags cut the deficit to five at 16-13 with a 10-5 burst before Coastal increased its lead to 20-13 with a 4-0 surge, which included back-to-back service aces by Stout.
 
An 8-2 spurt by the USA forced the Chants to call a timeout leading 22-21. After Coastal took a 23-21 lead on a kill by Malone, the two teams traded the 13 rallies to remain even at 28-28. The Chanticleers' Lesiak put down a kill and teamed up with Unal to block a kill attempt to give Coastal a 30-28 second-set win and even the match at 1-1.
 
In the third set, the Chanticleers raced to a 14-4 lead, sparked by a Malone spike and capped by a pair of Fowler service aces. After a timeout by the Jaguars, South Alabama used a 7-3 run to cut the CCU lead to 16-10.  Coastal maintained a 10-point advantage at 19-9 as the two squads traded the next 10 points before a 14-3 Jaguar run put the host up 23-22. The Chanticleers answered with two quick points before a back-and-forth over the next seven rallies with the score deadlocked at 27-27. CCU got a pair of kills by Fowler and Lesiak to take a 2-1 match lead with the 29-27.
 
South Alabama doubled up Coastal 10-5 to begin the fourth set before CCU pulled to within two points at 13-11. After a 3-1 run by the Jaguars, the Chants scored three straight points to cut the deficit to 16-15, highlighted by a Van Elslande and Lesiak kill. South Alabama evened the match at 2-2 with the 25-21 fourth-set victory by outscoring the Chanticleers 9-6.
 
In the fifth and final set, a 3-0 spurt by Coastal forced the Jags to call the early timeout after a pair of kills by Stout. After two quick South Alabama points, Coastal used a second 3-0 surge to take a 6-2 lead, highlighted by Lesiak and Fowler teaming up for a block. The Chants held tight to a four-point lead at 9-5 as they traded the next six rallies.
 
A 4-0 run by USA forced the Chanticleers to call the timeout with the score even at 9-9. The score remained all square at 14-14 after the two teams traded the next 10 points before back-to-back kills by Lesiak and Fowler gave Coastal the 16-14 fifth-set and 3-2 match win.
 
Coastal Carolina will meet Southern Miss on Thursday, Nov. 21, at 5:30 p.m. ET in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship in Foley, Ala., at the Foley Event Complex. The match will be streaming on ESPN+
 
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.