Brunswick, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia women's volleyball team saw its three-game winning streak come to an end Saturday afternoon with a four-set loss to Southeastern University in its first-ever home match at Howard Coffin Gym. The Mariners lost to the Lady Fire by scores of 17-25, 24-26, 25-19 and 18-25.
Head coach Jeff Huebner, who previously coached high school and club teams in Illinois, was disappointed in the loss, but he also said the match proved his new team can be competitive with more established programs even in the early goings of its debut season. "Southeastern is a team that finishes in the top half of the Sun Conference down in Florida. That's a good, established program," the coach pointed out. "We definitely could have beaten them if we had done the right things when the match got hard. So, I feel good about that. We have the right kids and the opportunity to be successful by wins and losses. But, we also want to make progress, and frankly we didn't do that today."
Prior to the match, there was a lot of excitement in the building as a fairly good crowd turned out to support the Mariners. The afternoon started by honoring the team for its first win in program history last Saturday against Florida Memorial University. Dr. Valerie Hepburn, president of the college, presented a game ball to the team to commemorate the historic achievement. Several Coastal Georgia players also were presented certificates from Dr. Hepburn recognizing them for achieving statistical firsts in various major categories during their three-game road trip to Florida to start the season.
The Mariners lost their opener to national power Embry-Riddle on Aug. 26 but bounced back quickly to defeat Florida Memorial and also Ave Maria University the next day in three sets. The Mariners made it three wins a row Thursday with another three-set win against first-year program Allen University in Columbia, S.C.
After dropping the first set Saturday against Southeastern, the Mariners led 24-22 late in the second game and were serving with a chance to win, but the Lady Fire rallied to tie the score and then proceeded to win the set 26-24 for a 2-0 lead. The Mariners stayed alive by winning the third set, but the visitors closed out the match by taking the fourth set.
"In sets two and three we outplayed them by a lot. Sets one and four were about the same," Huebner said. "We managed to lose the volleyball game in crucial situations. When the game got tight, we got tight."
Freshman hitter Holly Hammer led the Mariners with 11 kills. Sophomore team captain Kaitlyn Duckworth knocked down six kills before leaving the match with a knee injury, which was a big loss to the team, according to Huebner. He added that she will be evaluated early next week by doctors to determine the extent of her injury. Sophomore setter Maggie Bee led the team with 19 assists.
For Southeastern, Catherine Coston and Karina Mambuca led with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Tara McSherley led the visitors with 18 assists.
Coastal Georgia will be back at home Thursday for a second meeting with Allen. Game time is 6 p.m.
