Brunswick, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia women's volleyball team dropped a rare home match Friday night, falling 3-0 to Bethel in a key Southern States Athletic Conference matchup at Howard Coffin Gym.
The Wildcats (18-5 overall, 11-2 SSAC) defeated the Mariners 25-23, 25-22, 25-13 to claim their second three-set triumph over the Mariners this season. They also knocked off Coastal Georgia (18-6, 11-2) by a 3-0 score when the teams met last month at Bethel.
The Mariners had won six straight matches while losing just one set since that loss to the Wildcats on the road.
Coastal Georgia drops into a tie for second in the SSAC standings with the Wildcats who own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Mariners, however. Both teams are a game back in the loss column to Mobile whose only league loss was a 3-0 setback to the Mariners when the teams met in Brunswick in September. The Mariners will play at Mobile next week. Mobile and Bethel close the regular season against each other on Nov. 4.
For the Mariners, Friday's loss was the first at home since the 2013 season when Coastal Georgia fell 3-1 to No. 19-ranked Embry-Riddle in a non-conference match which also was the final contest of the regular-season.
Coastal Georgia had won 39 in a row at home before Friday night.
The Mariners also had not lost at home to an SSAC opponent since 2012 when they fell 3-1 on Oct. 13 to Emmanuel College. That was the first season in the conference for Coastal Georgia which is the two-time defending SSAC regular-season and tournament champions.
On Friday, the Mariners and Wildcats staged a close first set which included several tied scores as the largest lead by either side was three points by the Mariners. The teams were deadlocked at 23-23 after Kyra White killed a pass from Cayley Meiners, however the Wildcats scored the final two points to take the opening stanza.
The second set was close early and was tied 10-10 before Bethel began to surge ahead, going up by as much as 20-14 before going on to win for a 2-0 lead in the match.
Coastal Georgia hoped to regroup during the 10-minute intermission, but it didn't happen as Bethel kept the momentum and finished out the victory in runaway fashion.
For the match, the Wildcats finished with 39 kills getting 18 kills in 42 chances from Eloisa Sales, the top attacker in the SSAC. She made just three errors in the match and hit .357 for the night.
Kaylee Ginnings finished with 33 assists.
Coastal Georgia got 12 kills from Rachel Amundson and nine from Kyra White. The Mariners finished with 33 kills and 19 errors in 103 attacks and finished hitting just .136.
Cayley Meiners finished with 31 assists.
Alyssa Keeve led the Mariners' defense with 12 digs.
The Mariners will attempt to bounce back Saturday when they host Martin Methodist for a 2 p.m. match following the Mariner Fest tailgate party which begins at 11 a.m.
Friday's match was the team's annual Dig Pink Match to help raise awareness for breast cancer.
