Brunswick, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia women's volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday in the Coastal Georgia Tri-Match at Howard Coffin Gym.
The Mariners lost their opener Saturday morning to Southern Wesleyan by a 3-1 score but bounced back in the afternoon match, decking Southeastern University 3-1 to finish the day with the 1-1 record.
The Mariners (6-9) had lost six straight matches dating back to their loss to Valdosta State on Sept. 1 at the Azalea Classic in Valdosta. The Mariners lost four matches last weekend in the Faulkner Invitational by 3-0 scores with several players either limited by injury or sitting out with injury.
In the loss to Southern Wesleyan on Saturday, the set scores were 20-25, 25-22, 20-25, 20-25. In the victory over Southeastern, the scores were 25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 25-10.
The Southern Wesleyan match was also the opener for Coastal Georgia in the Southern States Athletic Conference. The volleyball team became the first-ever Coastal Georgia team to play an official competition in the conference with the match. The Mariners will visit Southern Wesleyan on Oct. 5 for the second league match between the teams this season.
The tri-match was the first-ever hosted by Coastal Georgia, which is in just its second year of competition.
Southern Wesleyan won the middle match of the three, knocking off Southeastern 3-1 to sweep both of its matches.
In Saturday's loss to the Warriors, the Mariners got a team-best 10 kills from freshman middle blocker MK White who also finished with five block assists and a solo block. Fellow freshman Katelyn Wienbarg chipped in with nine kills in 12 attempts and also had five block assists.
Meantime, Amanda Kline played solidly as well, finishing with eight kills and six block assists. Holly Hammer, who was Coastal Georgia's primary setter in both matches with Maggie Bee sitting out due to injury, finished with 22 assists and also had seven digs and five kills in the match.
In the victory over Southeastern, which defeated the Mariners in their inaugural home match a year ago, Coastal Georgia got a great effort out of several players. Junior outside hitter Lindsey Herman, who has been slowed by an injury, came through with 15 kills and 11 digs. She also notched four service aces.
Kline finished with nine kills while White finished with six. White also had four more block assists for Coastal Georgia.
Hammer again set the pace with 32 assists for the Mariners. She also had three block assists.
Kansas Robison, last year's team leader in digs, led the Coastal Georgia defense with 16 digs in the victory.
