Jackson, Miss. - The College of Coastal Georgia women's volleybal team again needed just three sets to produce another win, downing Belhaven 3-0 Friday night to open their weekend road swing in the Southern States Athletic Conference.
With the victory, the No. 25-ranked Mariners ran their record to 14-0 for the season and 6-0 in the conference. Belhaven dropped to 7-6 with the loss and 0-3 in the league.
The Mariners will be in Montgomery, Ala., on Saturday for a conference meeting against Faulkner, one of only three teams to take the Mariners beyon three sets thus far this season. Coastal Georgia defeated Faulkner in four sets during the Mariner Invitational last month at home. That match was a non-conference contest.
Brenau and Mobile are the only other two teams to take the Mariners past three sets. Coastal Georgia defeated the Golden Tigers 3-2 in the SSAC opener for both teams two Fridays ago while the Mariners dropped the first set in their highly-anticipated matchup with Mobile last Saturday at home before winning the next three sets to win the battle between the two unbeaten squads.
Against the Blazers, the Mariners took the first two sets easily, winning by 25-17 and 25-11 before holding off Belhaven 27-25 in the third set to end the match.
"The third set, we got caught a little trying to do too much and trying to force the ball into places it wouldn't fit," said Coastal Georgia coach Jeff Huebner. "But as always, we were glad to get the conference win on the road."
The Mariners pounded out 42 kills in the match, taking 101 swings and making 18 errors. Maddie Bounds, this week's conference player of the week, registered 12 kills in the win while Emma Anderson followed with 11.
Belhaven managed just 24 kills in 89 swings and also made 18 errors. The Blazers hit just .067 against the Coastal Georgia defense. The Mariners had three players finish with double-digit dig totals including Jennifer Johnson (12), Kara Neisen (11) and Anderson (10) who had a double-double for the Mariners.
Taylor Hall led the Blazers with eight kills in 20 attacks.
Coastal Georgia served 11 aces in the victory. Cayley Meiners and Bounds both had three each. Meiners had 18 assists in 18 attempts for the Mariners.
