Box Score | Bracket | Championship Central

ATLANTA – Sixth-seeded Arkansas State advanced to the semifinals for a seventh-straight year with a 3-1 victory (25-17, 25-15, 22-25, 25-20) over third-seeded Coastal Carolina in the first quarterfinal of the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship.
 
The Red Wolves move on to take on No. 2 seed Appalachian State on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET at the GSU Sports Arena.
 
Arkansas State’s outside hitting duo of senior Carlisa May (18 kills, 10 digs) and freshman Macey Putt (13 kills, 12 digs) led the way with senior setter Ellie Watkins posting 43 assists and sophomore libero Tatum Ticknor contributing a match-high 19 digs.
 
The Red Wolves were in command in the early going, scoring the first three and the last four points in the first set to cruise to a 25-17 advantage. A-State went on three scoring runs in the second set to keep the Chanticleers at bay, the final one was four consecutive points to extend its lead to 22-13. Five points later, Arkansas State clinched the set to go up 2-0.
 
Coastal Carolina came alive in the third set, fighting back from being down three early to tying and then taking the lead at 17-15 on a four-point run on kills by freshman outside hitter Anett Nemeth and sophomore outside hitter Kyla Manning and two A-State errors. The Chanticleers kept the advantage and eventually won the set 25-22.
 
The fourth set was another battle as the see-saw affair was tied 11 times. The Red Wolves rallied for a 3-0 scoring run to take a 16-15 lead. Arkansas State pushed its advantage to 23-19 on back-to-back kills by May. It would be May again to clinch the match with the final three points on a pair of kills and a block assist.

All remaining matches of the 2018 Sun Belt Volleyball Championship are set for live coverage on ESPN+. Follow the championship action via Twitter (@SunBelt) or live stats available on SunBeltSports.org.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
2018 SUN BELT VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Friday, November 16 - Quarterfinals
Match 3: No. 6 Arkansas State 3, No. 3 Coastal Carolina 1
Match 4: No. 5 UTA vs. No. 4 Little Rock (ESPN+), 7:30 p.m.
 
Saturday, November 17 - Semifinals
Match 5: Match 3 Winner vs. No. 2 Appalachian State (ESPN+), 2:30 p.m.
Match 6: Match 4 Winner vs. No. 1 Texas State (ESPN+), 5:00 p.m.
 
Sunday, November 18 - Final
Match 7: Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner (ESPN+), 1:00 p.m.
 
All Times are Eastern and Subject to Change