Dayton, Tenn. - The No. 20 College of Coastal Georgia women's volleyball team won a pair of matches Friday at the Bryan College Preseason Bash to move to 4-0 on the young season.
The Mariners opened the tournament with a 3-0 blanking of Bryan on Friday morning before pulling out a 3-2 victory over St. Catharine (Ky.) Friday evening. Both teams were receiving votes for the Top 25 poll which was released earlier this week.
Coastal Georgia faces two huge early-season tests Saturday against ranked foes Viterbo (Wis.) and Indiana Wesleyan. Viterbo is ranked fourth in the country after reaching the national semifinals last year while Indiana Wesleyan is ranked No. 17.
The Mariners played Viterbo last year in pool play at the final site of the national tournament, losing 3-1. The teams will square off at 9 a.m. Saturday. Coastal Georgia will round out its stay here by playing Indiana Wesleyan at 3 p.m.
The No. 20 ranking for the Mariners is their highest-ever and also their first ranking in the season's preseason poll. They opened the season with 3-0 wins last Saturday over Ave Maria (Fla.) and Florida National in a tri-match at Ave Maria.
In their opener here against Bryan, the Mariners won the opening set over the Lions who were playing their first regular-season match by 25-18 before winning the final two sets by 25-21 and 25-17.
The Mariners and Lions were tied 7-7 early in the first set before Coastal Georgia took the lead for good, going up by as much as 19-11 late in the set. The teams were tied 15-15 in set two before the Mariners regained the lead and kept control until the end. In the third set, the Mariners led the whole way, taking as much as a 16-7 advantage before finishing out the win.
The Mariners utilized a balanced offensive attack, getting nine kills from Kara Neisen, eight from Emma Anderson, seven from Regan Coughlin, six from Kyra White and four from Allie Shannon.
Cayley Meiners led the team with 30 assists. Jessica Fujimoto recorded seven aces while Coughlin had three.
The Mariners totaled 12 blocks as a team with Shannon leading the effort with 3.5. She had seven blocks assists. Anderson and Neisen both had solo blocks for Coastal Georgia.
The Mariners also got a balanced defensive effort. Neisen led the team with nine digs, Anderson had eight as did Coughlin and Alyssa Keeve had six.
"We blocked very well and herd a balanced attack," said Coastal Georgia coach Jeff Huebner. "It was a good win for us against a team receiving votes and one that does well year in and year out on the national stage.
"Alyssa Keeve did a great job being disciplined and passing well and steering our defense. Our middles were very special in transition. We will need to get them more swings as we move forward."
In the second match, four Mariners finished with double-digit kill totals. Shannon and White both paced the team's lethal attack with 14 kills while Anderson and Neisen followed with 11 each. Shannon hit .461 while White hit .370.
Fujimoto had three aces as did Coughlin. Meiners had 56 assists.
Shannon had 5.5 total blocks including three solos.
Neisen finished with 25 digs while Keeve followed closely with 23.
"It was a great win for the team," Huebner noted. "We did a great job of demonstrating great maturity and really had timely play from different players."
