CONWAY, S.C. - Coastal Carolina wraps up its season-opening three-match homestand Wednesday night, Sept. 3 (6 p.m.), against South Carolina at the HTC Center. The Chants split the first two matches of the homestand with a season-opening win over Maryland, 3-2, on Friday before falling to North Carolina, 1-3, on Sunday. The Gamecocks are also coming off a loss to an ACC opponent on Sunday, losing in five sets at home to Clemson. 

SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA: The Gamecocks are off to a 2-1 start after defeating ETSU and Campbell before losing to Clemson in the Gamecock Classic under new head coach Sarah Rumely Noble. She took over the Gamecocks program in March after three seasons as head coach at Appalachian State. Noble brought in 12 players not on lat year's roster including six freshmen, one sophomore, four juniors, and one senior. One of the few returnees is sophomore Victoria Harris, who was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team last season. She ranked sixth in the SEC for digs per set, at 4.04, which also ranked 14th nationally among Division I freshmen. Newcomers Nia Hall and Victoria Hill each had 40 kills over the weekend at the Gamecock Classic. Kimmie Thompson led the team with 60 assists during its three matches and Harris collected 34 digs.
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Chants and Gamecocks will be playing for the 12th time overall Wednesday with South Carolina holding a 9-2 lead in the series. They met four times in the 2010s, twice in the 2000, four times in the 90s and once in the 80s. Coastal splits its four matches against South Carolina in the 2010s meetings with each team winning once at home and once on the road. The Chants are 1-1 against South Carolina in Conway with both matches being played at the HTC Center. Eight of the previous 11 meetings were played in Columbia with a neutral site matched contested in Chapel Hill in 2005.Coastal lost each of the first nine meetings in the series, which originated in 1988, but has won each of the last two matches in the series.

LONG TIME, NO SEE: Coastal is facing South Carolina for the first time in 10 years and hosting the Gamecocks only the third time ever. Coastal posted a 3-1 victory in Columbia when it last played the Gamecocks 3,653 days ago.

CONSECUTIVE HOST: The Chants are hosting an SEC opponent for the third straight season after welcoming Tennessee to the HTC Center last season and Georgia in 2023. Coastal will look to end a nine-match losing streak to SEC foes, with its last win coming against South Carolina in Columbia in 2015. The Chants are 4-21 all-time versus current members of the conference (USC 2, Alabama 1, Tennessee 1).

THREE STRAIGHT VS TOURNEY TEAMS: The Chanticleers are playing their second of three consecutive games against 2024 NCAA Tournament opponents. After Wednesday's match, they'll face 2024 MEAC champion Delaware State on Friday. North Carolina reached the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

STOUT NAMED SBC POW: Setter Jalyn Stout was named the first Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the 2025 season on Tuesday. In two matches against Maryland and North Carolina, she tallied 33 kills, 38 assists, and 19 digs, while hitting .301. It was her third career weekly award.

ANOTHER STOUT TD: Stout opened the season by posting her 35th career triple-double, most among all active NCAA DI players, in the season opener against Maryland with 20 kills, 22 assists, and 10 digs. 

RARE "BIG" WIN: With their win over Maryland, the Chants posted just their third win over a Big Ten opponent. It's only previous two wins versus a Big Ten team were both against Iowa in 2021 (3-0) and 2019 (3-1). Coastal is 3-22 all-time against Big Ten opponents.

NEWCOMERS MAKE DEBUT: Five of the Chanticleers' eight newcomers made their CCU debut during opening weekend: Elin Andersson, Kibi Huggins, Becca Micelle, Anna Rita, and Anzley Rinard. Micelle and Rita started both matches. Rita leads the team in blocks with seven, Rinard is third in kills (16), and Micelle is fourth in digs (14).