No. 3 Chanticleers Move to Volleyball Finals
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Third-seeded Coastal Carolina scored the final three points of the match to edge second-seeded High Point 3-2 in five thrilling sets in the semifinals of the Big South Conference Volleyball Tournament Saturday night at Justice Center. The Chanticleers won the match 26-24, 20-25, 25-23, 23-25, 17-15.
Coastal Carolina advances to the championship game on Sunday at 2 p.m. against the winner of the UNC Asheville-Liberty match that will be played later Saturday night. The Chanticleers improved to 27-8 and are in the championship game for the fourth time and for the first time since the 2004 season.
The Panthers record-setting season ends at 26-7. The Panthers set a school record for wins and Big South Conference victories at 13. They advanced to the semifinals for the first time in school history.
Megan Bickford led CCU with 17 kills and eight blocks. Chelsy Kimes enjoyed a double-double with 15 kills and 15 digs. Jill Nyhof and Amanda Russell chipped in 12 kills each. Brett Starbuck led the defensive effort with 33 digs.
High Point was led by Lindsay Raus with a career-best 22 kills. Ashley Mellott had 19 kills and three blocks. Audie Gonzalez had 11 kills and 24 digs. Stephanie Wallin had 10 kills and five blocks.
The match was close the whole way with each team getting key points to win the sets they won.
The fifth set had Coastal Carolina take control and two kills from Kimes had the Chanticleers in front 10-6.
High Point battled back to 10-9 as Raus had two kills but Coastal Carolina regained momentum with three straight points to lead 13-9. The Panthers crept to 13-12 on a service ace from Megan Pollard but an attack error gave CCU match point at 14-12.
The Panthers got a service error to trail 14-13 and an attack error to knot the match at 14-14. Mellott’s final kill gave the Panthers the lead at 15-14 and match point for them.
But the Chanticleers would get a kill from Kimes to tie the match at 15-15. A block solo from Bickford put CCU in front 16-15. Russell would finish the match off with a kill to give the Coastal Carolina the thrilling victory.
QUOTES
Coastal Carolina Head Coach Kristen Bauer
“That was a spectacular match for the fans to watch as I thought both teams played just great. We’ve been successful in five-set matches this year (now 6-0) and that helped us in the end. We got great play from our seniors who led us. Hats off to High Point. I thought their defense was tremendous and made it very tough for us to get our offense going.”
High Point Head Coach Chad Esposito
“It was a great volleyball match. Two great teams played at a very high level tonight. Coastal Carolina had chances to win and so did we and in the end they were a little better this evening. I really want to give our kids credit for hanging in there during the fifth set. We battled tonight like we’ve battled all year long and it almost got us to the championship game. I’m very proud of our seniors. They changed the culture of volleyball at High Point. We will miss them."