Brunswick, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia women's volleyball team took on another new program Thursday night, knocking off Allen University of Columbia, S.C., in three sets in a match played at nearby Columbia College.
On the neutral court, the Mariners took the match with identical set victories of 25-12, 25-12, 25-12. The win was the third in a row for Coastal Georgia since opening the season last Friday with a three-set defeat at Embry-Riddle, the No. 8 ranked team in the preseason poll for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The Mariners will put their win streak on the line Saturday when they host Southeastern (Fla.) University for a 2 p.m. match at Howard Coffin Gym. The match will be the first-ever official home match for the new Coastal Georgia team.
"We're looking forward to the weekend," said Coastal Georgia coach Jeff Huebner. "Southeastern has a good history of volleyball and has developed some good players in the past. It will be an exciting match for everyone to come out and see. We're looking forward to showing how much we have developed. We look much different than we did in our home scrimmage."
Admission to Saturday's game is $3 for the general public. Coastal Georgia students, faculty and staff will be admitted free with their school I.D. Prior to the game, the Mariners will be honored for picking up their first win in program history last Saturday against Florida Memorial. Several Mariners players will also be recognized for achieving individual firsts in certain statistical categories.
Against Allen, the Mariners never trailed in any of the three sets. For the match, the Mariners recorded 26 service aces, which Huebner said could likely be a mark that is never broken. Sophomore setter Maggie Bee set an individual match record for service aces for the Mariners with 11. Freshman outside hitter Holly Hammer recorded a set record for aces with five in the third game. Freshman hitter Amanda Kline also had four aces in the match for the Mariners.
Sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn Duckworth led the Mariners with 11 kills in the match and Hammer followed with seven. Kline notched six kills and was a perfect 6-for-6 hitting on the night. Freshman middle blocker Valerie Cutrone led the Mariners with four digs and delivered eight perfect passes in nine reception attempts. Cutrone, playing for the first time this season, also knocked down her first kill and had three spikes in the match. Also for the Mariners, Taylor Ness and Kelsey Behrend recorded their first kills in college volleyball.
"We played well. We did what we were supposed to do," Huebner said. "We were a little less focused than I would have liked, but we served well and our serve receive was very good. I also thought our kids did a good job running our offense."
Southeastern will come here for Saturday's match with a 1-3 record. After winning just one of three matches last weekend to open their season, the Fire fell Thursday night to Colorado Christian University in their home opener in Lakeland, Fla.
