GWU Volleyball Falls at Home to Coastal Carolina, 3-0
October 30, 2010 | Volleyball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team dropped its fifth-straight match on Saturday afternoon, as the Runnin' Bulldogs fell at home to Coastal Carolina 25-17, 25-13 and 25-13 in Big South Conference action.
The Runnin' Bulldogs picked up seven kills from sophomore outside hitter Molly Rhyne and six by fellow sophomore Melissa Richie, yet couldn't overcome Chelsy Kimes and the Chanticleers for the win.
In the first set, both teams struggled offensively, however, GWU found themselves knotted up at 9-9 on a kill from freshman middle blocker Tyler Cockrell.
Coastal Carolina then went on a 9-3 run capped off by a Meghan Laffin service ace to put the visiting Chanticleers in front at 18-12 and force a GWU timeout.
GWU scored three straight points out of the timeout, highlighted by a kill from sophomore right side hitter Carol Solano and junior middle blocker Laura Wilcox, to cut the Chanticleers lead to three at 18-15.
However, Coastal Carolina held GWU to only two points for the remainder of the set to take the first set win at 25-17.
A slow start doomed the Runnin' Bulldogs in the second set, as Coastal Carolina jumped out to an 8-0 lead to open the game.
Gardner-Webb couldn't overcome the deficit, never getting any closer than eight for the set, as GWU posted a .167 attack percentage to Coastal Carolina's .361 percentage for the set, as the Chanticleers ran away with the 25-13 set win and an early 2-0 match lead.
In the third set, GWU again found themselves battling back from behind, as Coastal Carolina took a 5-1 lead on a Gardner-Webb attack error.
The Runnin' Bulldogs battled back to cut the Coastal Carolina lead to one at 8-7 on back-to-back Chanticleer attack errors and put themselves in the set.
After the two teams traded points with a kill by Richie putting the score at 10-8 in favor of the Chanticleers, GWU got stuck on eight as Coastal Carolina ran out to a 17-8 lead with a 7-0 run.
The run proved to be too much for the Runnin' Bulldogs, as Coastal Carolina closed out the set with an 8-5 advantage to take set three 25-13 and the match 3-0.
Junior setter Evan Moffitt had 19 assists and nine digs, while both Rhyne and Richie added nine digs apiece for GWU in the loss.
Kimes lead the Chanticleers with a match-high 14 kills to go along with her 10 digs, while libero Lindsay Gill had a match-high 13 digs over the three set match.
Gardner-Webb (5-21, 0-11 Big South) will return to action next Friday night, November 5, as the Runnin' Bulldogs host the Radford Highlanders at 7 p.m. in Paul Porter Arena.
Coastal Carolina will remain on the road for its next bout, taking on Charleston Southern in Charleston, S.C. at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2.
###
| Box Score: Coastal Carolina 3, Gardner-Webb 0 |
