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CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston Cougars took a 3-1 match victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the squad's first game of the Hampton Inn Invitational at TD Arena on Friday afternoon.
The Cougars dominated the opening and closing sets, winning 25-12 and 25-11 in sets one and four. CofC won the second set 25-23, while the Islanders took the third set, 28-26.
Sophomore Madelyn McGinnis posted 22 kills, a new individual career high and the most by a Cougar player this season. McGinnis' bulk scoring was also efficient as she hit .372 to help College of Charleston post a .317 attack percentage, the best team performance this season.
Senior Sarah Havel landed 12 kills and had a hand in five blocks. Classmate Hayley Harrell played well defensively, leading College of Charleston with 15 digs. Elyse Chubb nabbed eight kills in 16 attempts, while Sloane White landed nine kills.
The Islanders were led by Brooke Alverson's 11 kills and three block assists. Ashley Phelps contributed 10 kills.
"I was happy with how well prepared we were," head coach Jason Kepner said. "We were very efficient starting the match and you saw that throughout with our hitting percentage. Maddie McGinnis made a lot of good swings. She's a very aggressive player. When she goes in full speed and gets good contact, she is very hard to stop."
The Cougars opened the first set strong, building a 5-0 lead and eventually a 12-2 lead. The Islanders never cut the margin to less than nine points and the Cougars went on to win 25-12. College of Charleston hit .212 while holding the Islanders to a -.135 attacking percentage. Four team blocks, including three block assists from Havel, helped stifle Corpus Christi's attack.
Despite falling behind 14-10 and 23-20, College of Charleston rallied for the last five points of the second set to win 25-23. White registered a kill and block while McGinnis landed three kills in the Cougars' 5-0 run to end the game. McGinnis finished the set with a team-high seven kills in 12 attempts for an attack percentage of .583. College of Charleston only committed three attack errors for a team attacking mark of .406.
The third set was tightly contested throughout with both teams trading points on from a 20-20 tie. A kill from Lizzie Theesfeld gave Charleston set point at 24-23, but Shannon Hullum helped the Islanders side out with a kill that tied it at 24. Several points later, a service error from Theesfeld and attack error from McGinnis gave the Islanders a 28-26 set win.
College of Charleston wasted no time building a lead in the fourth and final set. The Cougars led 10-3 after five McGinnis kills. The Islanders were never able to string any serves together and eventually succumbed, 25-11. College of Charleston hit .556 in the final frame with just one attacking error. Blocks from Havel and Elyse Chubb and Chubb and Kerstin Koehler punctuated the Cougar match victory.
College of Charleston continues play in the Hampton Inn Invitational with the final Friday match, taking on UNC-Wilmington at approximately 7 p.m. in TD Arena.
