ATLANTA, Ga. – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team fell to Georgia Tech 3-0 at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, Ga., on Monday afternoon. With the loss, Coastal drops to 0-3 on the year, while the Yellow Jackets improve to 2-1.
Coastal's
Jalyn Stout finished with a team-high nine kills, while
Emily Fowler,
Agata Lesiak,
Dilara Unal,
Siri Engstrom, and
Lauren Malone tallied eight, three, two, two, and two spikes, respectively.
Cagla Bengi (11) and Stout (9) combined for 20 of the team's 27 assists.
Defensively, CCU totaled four blocks as Unal and Lesiak stopped four and three kill attempts, respectively.
Sydney Lewis finished with a team-high 10 digs.
The Yellow Jackets were led by Bianca Bertolino, Larissa Mendes, and Tamara Otene with 10, eight, and seven kills, respectively. At the same time, Liv Mogridge and Deandra Pierce finished with six and five kills each. Luanna Emiliano and Heloise Soares tallied 20 and 13 assists, respectively.
Georgia Tech stopped eight kill attempts with Pierce making five stops, while Otene stopped three kill attempts. Sofia Velez and Otene tallied 15 and 12 digs apiece.
In the opening set, the two teams traded the first 16 points to remain even at 8-8 before the Yellow Jackets opened a 10-8 advantage on back-to-back miscues by the Chants. GT increased its lead to 14-11 only to see the Chanticleers even the score with a 3-0 spurt on three unforced errors by the Yellow Jackets.
After a 4-1 burst by Georgia Tech for an 18-15 lead, CCU cut the deficit to one at 20-19 with a 4-2 surge, highlighted by a pair of kills by Stout. The Jackets got back-to-back kills by Larissa Mendes to force the Chants to call a timeout with the score at 22-19. Coastal responded with a second 4-2 run to trail 24-23. GT claimed the first set at 25-23 on a miscue by CCU to lead 1-0 in the match.
In set two, GT took command, outscoring the Chanticleers 17-5 before Coastal scored four straight to cut the lead to 17-9, sparked by an Engstrom kill and topped by a Lesiak kill. The Yellow Jackets outscored CCU 8-3 for a 2-0 match lead at 25-12.
In the final set, Coastal Carolina raced to a 6-2 lead, highlighted by blocks by Lesiak, Unal, and
Valentina Varani. Georgia Tech battled back to even the score at 8-8 with a 6-2 spurt. CCU took a 15-10 lead with a 7-2 run, sparked by a kill by Fowler and capped by a Yellow Jacket miscue.
A 10-2 burst by Georgia Tech forced the Chants to call both timeouts as the Jackets took a 20-17 lead. GT finished the sweep with a 5-2 surge for a 25-19 third set win.
Coastal Carolina will return to action at the Cavalier Classic on Friday, Sept. 6 for a meeting with Hofstra in Charlottesville, Va. The opening serve is scheduled for noon 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.
