CONWAY, S.C. – Leah Hardeman tallied 17 kills and 14 digs, and Coastal Carolina overcame a five-point deficit late in the third set to post a 3-1 (25-16, 17-25, 25-21, 25-19) Sun Belt Conference volleyball victory over Georgia Southern Friday night at the HTC Center.

Lauren Reichard led the Eagles (5-10, 2-3) with 10 kills and seven blocks, and Cathrine Murray tallied nine kills and 10 digs. April Luther finished with 32 assists and eight digs, and Joscelin Morrow recorded a match-high 16 digs. 

Kinga Windisch collected nine kills and 11 digs for Coastal Carolina (7-7, 4-1), and Larissa Dos Santos chipped in seven kills and four blocks.

The story
With the match tied 1-1, Murray had two kills and Reichard added a third as the Eagles built a 19-14 lead in the third. Down 20-16, the Chants finished the set with a 9-1 run behind the serving of Dora Lulic as well as a pair of kills and a block by Dos Santos.

The Eagles trimmed a four-point deficit to 17-16 in the fourth set, but Coastal Carolina called timeout and promptly went on a 7-1 run, capped by a Hardeman kill, to open a 23-17 advantage. The replay system was unkind to the Eagles as the Chants won reversals on both of their challenges in the set, and the Eagles lost their lone challenge.

Coastal Carolina scored six straight points to break an 11-11 tie in the first set. Hardeman served for five points and recorded a kill during the run, while Dos Santos posted a kill and a block. 

Murray ignited a 6-2 Eagle run with a kill, and GS opened a 14-7 cushion in the second set. Kills by Anna Wenger and Megan Chevalier keyed another 5-1 spurt as the Eagles built a 20-11 lead on their way to tying the match 1-1.

Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"I'm very proud of how we competed tonight. We saw it in the South Alabama match – we competed, we just didn't execute. Tonight, we competed and we executed for a good portion of the match. We just have to finish. We can't be up 20-15, and then all of the sudden, it's 20-20. We have to want the ball and put that set away."

"We'll fix it. It's there. We're getting better each week, and the kids are understanding what we want. We're disappointed, but there are a lot of good things that happened tonight. The negatives were really just bad mental mistakes, and those are easy to fix."

Next up
Georgia Southern travels to Appalachian State for a Sun Belt match Sunday. First serve is set for 12:30 p.m.

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