Coastal Carolina’s women’s volleyball team swept the Appalachian State Mountaineers 3-0 Friday night in the first of a two-match series at the HTC Center.
Setter Jalyn Stout led the Chanticleers offensively with 12 kills, while outside hitter Emma Van Elslande and middle blocker Anna Rita added consistent firepower.
Coastal controlled the first set from start to finish, maintaining a steady lead before finishing the set 25-17 backed by strong defensive play from Rita and defensive specialist Bailee Earnhardt.
The energy between the Chanticleers was electric, giving the players an extra push to come out on top of the match.
During the second set, the Chanticleers started to lose their lead over the Mountaineers, proving that they would need to use all their energy to overcome their opponents.
The second set proved more competitive. For the majority of the set, the Chants were neck and neck to Appalachian State.
Appalachian State started to gain a lead on Coastal, forcing Coastal to tighten their defense and capitalize on their opponent’s communication errors.
Coastal sealed the 25-24 lead with a spike by Van Elslande.
Coastal started the third set playing for a clean sweep and looking to capitalize on any opening that Appalachian State would give them.
In similar fashion to the first two sets, the Chanticleers and Mountaineers stayed close in score.
The Chanticleers were able to push back, allowing outside hitter Emily Fowler to deliver seven kills and two key blocks, while Stout continued to orchestrate the offense with clever setter dumps and timely assists to secure a score of 13-6 before a timeout for Coastal.
Appalachian State worked their way up, finally matching the score 18-18, with Jalyn Stout breaking that tie and pushing Coastal to 19-18.
The Chanticleers stayed on top finishing out the set 25-20.
Looking forward, the Chants want to improve their mistakes and continue their winning momentum.
“The mentality we take on the team is tomorrow’s the most important day. The next match is the most important match,” CCU assistant coach Aaron King said. “We usually say eyes on the prize, but we have to make sure we take care of ourselves in the moment, so it’s a huge mentality for us.”
The match between the Chanticleers and Mountaineers was a reminder of the caliber of components they will face in the next coming weeks, marking the start of some intense matchups.
“I think right now we’re all, like, working towards just being together and putting everything within our team and to look to each other,” said Earnhardt.
Within the next few weeks, the Chants are set to have three double headers, the first two being away games. Following these double headers, they will enter the Sun Belt Conference Championship in Foley, Alabama. The Chants, however, want to focus on each match, not looking too far into the future.
“We try to take it game by game, so we’re just focused on our next important match, which is App-State tomorrow,” Fowler said.
The Chanticleers are set to face the Mountaineers tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the HTC Center.
