Coastal Carolina women’s beach volleyball beat Tennessee Tech University 5-0 in the Coastal Carolina Invitational, improving their overall record to 5-9.
CCU’s Maya McNabney and Courtney Burnham set the tone early leading a 21-6 first set win over Tennessee Tech’s Kyana Gabriel and Savannah Knepp.
McNabney and Burnham jumped out to an early lead in the second set as well, winning by a score of 21-12, securing the first match for the Chanticleers 2-0.
Burnham was pleased with her and McNabney’s performance on the day.
“I think today we did a good job of standing our ground with teams that might not be as high a level as us. Me and my partner did a really good job of executing and setting it well,” Burnham said.
The first heat wrapped up with CCU’s Olivia Pippin and Madeline Sigmon winning the first set by a score of 21-14.
Tennessee Tech’s pair of Bailey Poppe and Piper Jones fell behind early but closed the set with a win. Despite Poppe and Jones’ efforts in the previous set, Pippin and Sigmon won the second set 21-11, increasing CCU’s match lead to 2-0.
Coastal Carolina student and indoor women’s volleyball player Bella Loeswick noted the atmosphere after the first set of matches.
“The energy was really fun; the people who weren’t playing were on the sidelines cheering everybody on,” Loeswick said.
The third match saw CCU’s Ava Novello and Karis Gordon taking on Tennessee Tech’s Zoe Mish and Alanah Craig.
Novello and Gordon won the first set 21-8, managing to stay in the lead the entire match. Mish and Craig made the second set closer; however, Novello and Gordon won 21-14 and extended the match lead to 3-0.
With CCU leading 3-0, Kristýna Koblížková and Anna Rita faced Tennessee Tech’s Kasha Walter and Jordyn Hamlin. Koblížková and Rita were steadily ahead in the first set, winning 21-12.
Walter and Hamlin presented a challenge in second set, but ultimately fell short to the CCU pair 21-16, advancing the match lead to 4-0.
The final match of the day featured CCU’s Frida Meincke LyØ and Emma Kunaus and Tennessee Tech’s MK Roberts and Vivian RoBards.
LyØ and Kunaus won a close first set 21-17. The second set presented a battle, which saw both sides taking leads throughout. With the score tied at 19-19, LyØ and Kunaus scored back-to-back points to win the set 21-19 and gave the Chanticleers the 5-0 match win.
With three more games on the schedule for the Coastal Carolina Invitational, Karis Gordon shared her thoughts on what’s to come.
“I think there’s gonna be a lot of pressure, because of the fact that it’s senior night, and we want to impress our seniors. I think if we can continue to elevate our play, we’ll be competitive,” Gordon said.
