College of Charleston
Coastal Carolina
Cougars Fall in Four Sets at Coastal Carolina
9/17/2014 1:31:00 AM | Volleyball
CONWAY, S.C. – College of Charleston volleyball's four match winning streak came to a close on Tuesday night at the HTC Center, where the Cougars fell to Coastal Carolina, 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 14-25, 17-25).
The Cougars were led on the night by junior team captain Melissa Morello's 12 kills and 17 digs, while freshman Krissy Mummer continued her strong defensive play, racking up another five blocks. Recent CAA Offensive Player of the Week Cara Howley added another 10 kills, but the Cougars couldn't overcome a .110 team hitting percentage to lose for just the second time in the last seven matches.
The first set started well for the Cougars after Mummey put away back-to-back kills to give CofC an early 2-0 lead. It looked briefly like the Cougars might run away with the opening frame as Coastal struggled to find consistency in their attack and handed the Cougars numerous free points on service errors. However, after going down by five points midway through, the Chanticleers found their way, continuously setting Big South Freshman of the Week Leah Hardemen to tie the game at 23-23 late on. After a kill from Eszter Nagy gave Coastal a set point, a Cougars service error on the ensuing sequence then handed the Chanticleers the set, 26-24.
The Cougars quickly bounced back in the game two, again taking another early 2-0 lead through back-to-back Chanticleer attack errors. From there, no team led by more than two points until an ace from senior libero Andi Zbojniewicz gave The College a 14-11 lead. Two straight kills from sophomore middle Maddie Hills then extended the advantage to 16-12. The lead would not hold however as Coastal tied the frame at 18-18, before the Cougars stepped up and rattled off six of seven points to put themselves on the brink at 24-19. Head coach Jason Kepner then drew up a nice play out of a timeout as Zbojniewiwcz delivered a perfect pass to freshman setter Mackenzie Cooler who then set nicely for Maddie Hills to hammer home the game winner.
After Coastal took the third set, 25-14, the Cougars came out motivated in the fourth and took an early lead at 4-2 following a great block from Mummey and a huge kill from senior right side Sloane White. The CofC advantage was only temporary though as Coastal tied things up at seven apiece. A Cougar handling error on the following play then gave the home team a lead they would not relinquish. CofC managed to tie things up mid-way through the fourth at 14-14, but that was as close as they would come, eventually falling, 25-17.
Next up for the Cougars is a Friday, Sept. 19 date with New Mexico in the Cougars opening match of the SMU Classic in Dallas Texas.
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