CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Coastal Carolina volleyball team won the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament match Friday evening as the Chanticleers downed James Madison in five sets (19-25, 25-18, 25-18, 17-25, 15-9) at North Carolina’s Carmichael Arena.
The historic win improves Coastal’s record to 28-4, setting a program high for wins in a season. It is also Coastal’s 18th straight win, matching the program’s record set by the 2015 Chanticleers’
Coastal now advances to the second round of the tournament where it faces the winner of Friday’s second match at the Chapel Hill regional between the host Tar Heels and High Point. The second round match is slated to start Saturday at 6 p.m. at Carmichael Arena.
Friday’s match saw just one lead change and only six ties as all but the deciding set featured start-to-finish leads. Coastal led in kills (66-60) and assists (61 -57), though JMU held advantages in hitting percentage, digs and blocks.
Annayka Legros led the Chants in the victory with 19 kills, a .455 hitting percentage and seven blocks. Her kill total was one short of her personal best, set earlier this season against Georgia Tech.
Leah Hardeman and Tahleia Bishop each put down 14 shots and were both active at the net defensively, with the former recording four blocks and the latter a pair.
Sara Boothe dished out 40 assists and Carla Cahill led the Chants with 17 digs. Natasa Savovic also provided 15 digs in the winning effort.
JMU led for the entirety of the first set, taking an early 10-6 lead before increasing their advantage to 20-15. The Chants staged a brief comeback attempt by winning the next three points, but managed only one more point for the remainder of the set as the Dukes won 25-19.
The entirety of the second set belonged to Coastal, however, as the Chants took an 11-9 lead before using an 8-2 run to take firm control of the game. The lead proved too much for the Dukes to overcome, and CCU finished the set with kills from Boothe, Legros and Bishop.
Set three featured another wire-to-wire lead for the Chants. Legros opened the set with three straight points on a kill and consecutive blocks, and finished the set with six kills and four blocks. Hardeman also added five kills and a pair of blocks. Coastal hit .263 and, after taking a 12-9 lead, remained in front by at least three points for the remainder of the set.
JMU jumped out to a quick 12-4 lead in the fourth set before Coastal rallied to win five straight points and cut the Dukes’ lead to three. The Chants could not slow down the JMU attack, however, as the Dukes hit .333 in the set to win 25-17.
JMU won the first point of the deciding set and, after several ties, the Chants took the lead for good at 4-2 on a kill by Bishop. The two-point cushion remained until the teams switched sides with Coastal leading 8-6. Coming out the timeout Coastal won four straight points to take a commanding 12-6 lead. After a kill by Legros, consecutive JMU errors finished off the set.
JMU’s Janey Goodman led all players in the match with 29 kills. The Dukes close their season with a 21-11 record.