Brunswick, Ga. - The College of Coastal Georgia women's volleyball team capped a perfect run through the Fairfield Inn and Suites Mariner Invitational Saturday night with a 3-0 victory over Bethel (Ind.) in the tournament finale at Howard Coffin Gym.
With the win, the No. 20 Mariners (9-1) finished 4-0 in their home event for the third straight year and are now 12-0 through the first three years of the tournament.
In addition to defeating Bethel, perennially a strong team, the Mariners also knocked off St. Thomas (Fla.) and Byan College (Tenn.) - two teams that were receiving votes for the first Top 25 poll - and also Xavier, which has made the last four NAIA national tournaments.
Coastal Georgia played just one set over the minimum of 12 in its four matches this weekend. St. Thomas, who the Mariners defeated 3-1 earlier Saturday, were the only team to take the home team beyond three sets.
"I'm happy with the way the tournament turned out," said Coastal Georgia coach Jeff Huebner. "Everyone was gunning for us."
Against Bethel, the Mariners had 43 kills in 90 swings with 14 errors. Regan Coughlin led the attack with 10 kills. Allie Shannon and Kyra White followed with nine and eight, respectively. Coughlin., Shannon and Jessica Fujimoto all had three aces for the Mariners.
Cayley Meiners had 33 asists.
Coastal Georgia put together another strong defensive effort, recording 55 team digs. Kara Neisen led the way with 15 while Coughlin and Alyssa Keeve followed with 10 each.
The Mariners also were strong defensively at the net, finishing with nine total blocks. White totaled four solos for the home squad.
Earlier Saturday, the Mariners jumped out to a 2-0 lead on St. Thomas, winning a nip-and-tuck first set 26-24 before taking control with a 25-14 win in the second set. The Bobcats won the third set 25-17 to stay alive, but the Mariners put away the match with a 25-20 victory in the fourth set.
Against St. Thomas, the Mariners pounded out 54 kills in 150 attacks with all five players who registered kills for the team finishing with double-digit tallies. Neisen and White led the charge with 12 each, Emma Anderson, Coughlin and Shannon all recorded 10 each.
Meiners dished out 47 assists.
For the defense, which racked up 75 digs, Keeve led the way with 21 while Anderson and Neisen added 13 each and Coughlin and Meiners got 10 apience.
The Mariners had 19 total blocks.
Huebner continues to laud the defensive play by the Mariners.
"Our defense just keeps getting better and better," Huebner said. "We're trying to get 15 to 18 digs a set and we were right there today, and our blocking is pretty good also. We're averaging more than three blocks a set which is really good."
Coastal Georgia will open play in the SSAC next weekend with a road matches at Bethel (Tenn.) and Martin Methodist, which competed in the Mariner Invitational but was the only team the Mariners did not play.
For complete tournament results, click here.
