STATESBORO, Ga. - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team won its final regular season road contest Wednesday night as the Chanticleers downed Georgia Southern in straight sets (25-21, 25-19, 25-16) at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The midweek match was a make-up of the Oct. 8 tilt between the Chants and Eagles that was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew.
Coastal (20-4, 11-1) has now won its last 10 matches, marking the second straight season that the Chants have posted win streaks in the double digits. Eight of those wins have been three-set sweeps, including each of the last five.
Georgia Southern (12-15, 4-7) has suffered losses in each of its last three matches, though still has an opportunity to improve on its fourth-place Sun Belt East Division standing with South Alabama and Georgia State a game ahead at 5-7.
Coastal and Georgia Southern meet again Friday night at the HTC Center at 6:30 p.m., while Georgia State comes to Conway on Sunday for a 1 p.m. match.
The Chanticleer attack in Wednesday's match was led by the 15 kills of Leah Hardeman, who notched her 10th double-double of the season by adding 10 digs.
Tahleia Bishop, Annayka Legros and Natasa Savovic followed with kill totals of eight, eight and seven, respectively, with Bishop adding a .389 hitting percentage.
Sara Boothe dished out a match-leading 24 assists, Carla Cahill led all players with 16 digs, and Dora Lulic recorded match-highs of six blocks and three service aces.
The opening set featured 11 ties and seven lead changes, and the Chants did not take the lead for good until a Georgia Southern ball handling error broke a 19-19 tie. Savovic then served the Chants to a 24-19 advantage, and Hardeman put the set away with her fourth kill of the game.
Hardeman exploded for seven kills in the middle frame, three of which came during a 6-2 Coastal run that broke a tie and gave the Chants a 20-16 lead. The Coastal defense held Georgia Southern to just three points for the remainder of the set, while totaling 17 digs throughout.
The final set was the most dominant for the Chants as they held the Eagle to a .000 hitting percentage. Hardeman, Bishop and Savovic combined for 10 kills as Coastal took an early 10-9 advantage and never relinquished the lead.