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Volleyball on the Road for Three Games this Week

       

Volleyball on the Road for Three Games this Week

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The Coastal Carolina volleyball have a busy week of games planned. The Lady Chanticleers will start the week off by traveling to Charleston, S.C. to take on Big South Conference rival Charleston Southern at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26. Coastal will continue its travels as it heads to Atlanta, Ga. on Saturday, Oct. 30, at 4 p.m. where it will take on Georgia State in a non-conference match-up.  CCU will have one more game next week as it travels to Birmingham, Ala. to take on conference rival Birmingham-Southern on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. In last weeks action Coastal took first place Winthrop University to the limit, before dropping the fifth and decisive game on Friday evening, Oct 22, and beat High Point University in a three-game sweep on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 23.

Scouting Charleston-Southern

Charleston Southern are 8-11 on the season and 3-6 in the Big South Conference play. Over the weekend the Lady Bucs defeated High Point University in three games on Saturday afternoon and were downed by Winthrop University in four games on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Bucs have had an up and down year, putting together both a three-game winning streak and a four-game losing streak. CSU is led by junior outside hitter Victoria Owens who has 202 kills this season and sophomore middle blocker Jenni Shepherd who has 188 kills. Junior setter Katie O’Riordan is the team leader with 10 assist per game. CCU owns a 22-13 lifetime record against Charleston Southern.

Scouting Georgia State

Georgia State are 9-14 overall, but 5-2 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Lady Panthers have won four of its last six games including a win over University of Central Florida over the weekend. Senior April DeCosta set a milestone over the weekend becoming only the second player in NCAA history to record 5,000 assists and 1,000 digs in a career, in GSU’s loss to Florida Atlantic in five games on Sunday. The Lady Panthers have a game against fellow Atlantic Sun rival Troy on Thursday before it welcomes Coastal in for a weekend match. This is a very young squad with only one senior among its 10 players. Coastal is 1-3 against Georgia State in the matches they have played together in its all-time series.

Scouting Birmingham-Southern

Birmingham-Southern are 11-10 on the season with a 5-4 conference record. Over the weekend BSC lost to conference rival UNC Asheville on Saturday in four games and defeated Mercer in four games on Sunday. Jana Smelley set a new season/ career high with 24 kills during the Mercer game. The Panthers are led by junior Smelley’s 264 kills this season. Senior Rachel Malmborg also has played well with 233 kills on the year. Three others have recorded over 150 kills for a very balanced Panther attack. Setter Kyndall Waters is second in the conference with 11.82 assists per game. The Panthers are an impressive 7-1 at home this season. BSC will have one more game with Charleston Southern coming to town on Saturday, Oct. 30 before it welcome Coastal in for a match. Coastal holds the all-time series advantage of 6-1, including a three-game sweep of the Panthers on Oct. 10th.

Last Week’s Recap

Winthrop

Junior Jennifer Hampton tallied a team-high 51 assists to become Coastal’s All-Time Assist Leader and outside hitter Katherine Jensen led the strong effort with a team-high of 17 kills and a match-high 23 digs but the Coastal Carolina volleyball team (13-8, 4-4 Big South) took  a tough five game loss (26-30, 30-27, 21-30, 30-28, 12-15) against the first place team in the conference, Winthrop University (20-2, 8-0 Big South) on Friday evening at Kimbel Arena. All the games were close and competitive as the game was tied 44 different times with 23 lead changes combined for the two teams in the five games. Hampton’s team-high 51 assists gave her 3654 career set-assists, breaking former Chant Colette Pawlyk’s career mark of 3650. Jensen’s 17 kills allowed her to move into ninth place all-time on the Chanticleers kill list with 797 career kills. Other CCU standouts besides Hampton and Jensen included sophomore Alicia Meyers, who had 15 kills and 11 digs. Ashley Scheible had 10 kills to give the Chants its third and final player with double figure kill totals. Sophomore Kristin Rinne tallied 14 digs and junior Kali Banghart also reached double figures with 10 digs.

High Point

Sophomore Laura Obert led a balanced attack with a game-high 12 kills as Coastal (14-8, 5-4 Big South) swept High Point University (14-12, 4-4 Big South) in three games (30-20, 30-18, 30-17) on Saturday afternoon at Kimble Arena. It was a dominate team performance by Coastal as High Point struggled to get to 20 points in two out of the three games. Obert was the only Lady Chanticleer to reach double figure in kills but two of her teammates, Katherine Jensen and Alicia Meyers each recorded nine kills. Jensen’s nine kills allowed her to move into eight-place on Coastal’s All-Time kill list. Obert had an astonishing hitting-percentage of .500 while also registering a match-high six blocks. Jensen and Jennifer Hampton led Chants with 10 digs each. Hampton also registered a match-high 29 assists. CCU outhit the Panthers in kills 45-32 and hitting percentage .291-.058. Coastal also outblocked High Point 10-1.

Honors A Plenty

Laura Obert and Jennifer Hampton were both named to the Chanticleer Classic All-Tournament Team as they led Coastal to a second place finish. Previously Katherine Jensen and Laura Obert were both named to the All-Big Orange Bash Team as they led Coastal to a second place finish. In the first tournament of the season Katherine Jensen and Jennifer Hampton were both named to the Dayton Invitational All-Tournament team for their outstanding performances as Coastal ended up taking second place there as well.

Player of the Week

Jennifer Hampton was honored as the Big South Player of the Week for the week ending, October 10. Hampton had a great game, setting a career-high and the conference-high for the season with 69 assists. For the week Hampton tallied 113 assists and 28 digs. This is the second time has been awarded by the Big South as Player of the Week. Hampton previously was honored as the Co-Player of the Week in the Big South Conference for Sept. 13-20. Hampton helped Coastal upset NC State with a 61-assist,15-dig effort at the Chanticleer Classic. For the week she tallied 17 kills, 161 assists and 57 digs with a .288 hitting percentage.

Defense Counts

Coastal is currently ranked third in the Big South Conference in opponent hitting percentage (.181) and kills per game at 14.88. CCU also is third in the conference as it averages better than 16 digs per game (16.25) and more than two blocks a game (2.29). The Chants are third in hitting percentage (.218) and assists (13.24).

Individual Leaders

Coastal’s Laura Obert is among the top three in conference with a hitting-percentage of .316. Jennifer Hampton is tied for third in the conference in assists with 11.30 per match. Coastal boasts the second leading blocker in the conference in, Krista Kimble, who is averaging 1.11 blocks per game. Kimble is one of only four women this year to total nine blocks in a single game (versus North Carolina State).

The Kill Shot

CCU’s Katherine Jensen is second in the conference in kills and one of only three women averaging better than four kills per game (4.14). Jensen has recorded three matches of 20 or more kills which is third in the conference.

Helping Out

Setter Jennifer Hampton is one of only five woman to record 60 assist in a match, which she has done twice. Hampton is one of only three women this year to record a triple-double (43 assists ,13 Digs and 10 kills vs. Dayton, Sept. 3rd)

Career Leaders

Jennifer Hampton has now passed Colette Pawlyk to become the All-Time Assist Leader with 3683 career assists. An impressive total for the junior that has led CCU to a 56-30 record in her three years as the starting setter.

After only a little over a year of playing at Coastal, Katherine Jensen has now passed Emma Prowse for 10th and Melissa Gabriel for 9th place on the Lady Chanticleers career kill list. Jensen has recorded 806 career kills.

Pre-Season Choice for Second

Coastal Carolina’s volleyball team received 103 points including two first-place votes, to grab the second spot in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll on August 18. The Chants are coming off a season where they finished 21-11 overall, including 11-3 in the Big South Conference, and advanced to the Big South Tournament Semi-finals. Coastal is bringing back five starters from last season including the libero.

Up Next

Coastal will be coming home for a pair of games next weekend, as it hosts conference rivals Radford University on Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. and will welcome in Liberty University on Saturday evening, Nov. 6 for a 7 p.m. game as well. CCU defeated both opponents earlier this season.