MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Coastal Georgia volleyball split a pair of four-set matches during a trip to south Florida this weekend. The Mariners took a 3-1 (26-28, 25-23, 25-13, 25-19) decision over Florida National on Friday evening, but fell to St. Thomas 3-1 (25-18, 25-15, 18-25, 25-20) in a Sun Conference match on Saturday afternoon.
Coastal Georgia returns to action on Wednesday when the Mariners host Southeastern in a 7 p.m. contest at Coffin Gym during Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night.
Coastal Georgia 3, Florida National 1
Three individual and two team match records were set during the four-set contest with Florida National.
Kyra White set a new benchmark for attack percentage in a four-set match. White hit .765 with 15 kills and one error on 17 total attack. She broke Rachel Amundson's mark of .688 that was set against Martin Methodist on Sept. 27, 2014. In order to qualify for the attack percentage rankings for a four-set match, a minimum of 15 total attack must be made.
Alexis Downey served up a career-high nine aces in order to become the program's service ace leader for a four-set match. Downey's nine aces surpassed White's record of eight that came against St. Thomas on Nov. 4, 2017.
Laney Green made 34 digs, breaking the previous record of 33 that was held by Maggie Bee (vs. Southern Wesleyan on Nov. 8, 2013) and Yorelis Rios Gonzalez (vs. Taylor on Aug. 25, 2018).
On the team side, the Mariners broke four-set match records for attack percentage and digs. Coastal Georgia hit .469 (previous record - .440 at Martin Methodist on Oct. 25, 2014) and made 100 digs (previous record – 91 vs. Montreat on Aug. 29, 2012)
The Mariners got double-digit kills from White (15), Downey (11) and Adair Werley (13). Ashley Kot tallied a 53-assist, 17-dig double-double. Hannah Mitchell and Madie Bunge each added 15 digs.
St. Thomas 3, Coastal Georgia 1
Coastal Georgia's comeback rally came up just short in the Mariners' first road conference match of the season.
Kyra White and Adair Werley each tallied 10 kills. Ashley Kot recorded her second-straight double-double with 36 assists and 11 digs. Yorelis Rios Gonzalez made 16 digs.
The Mariners faced a St. Thomas team who hit a combined .402 for the first two sets. Coastal Georgia battled back from a late 10-point deficit in the opening set. Facing set point, kills from Sam Kepler and Werley allowed the Mariners to pull to within six (24-18). However, the Bobcats got a kill on the next point to take the set.
Despite a close start, Coastal Georgia saw St. Thomas close the second set on a 12-4 run that allowed the Bobcats to take a 2-0 match lead.
In the third set, it was Coastal Georgia who went on the set-ending run to stay alive in the match. After St. Thomas tied the match at 18-18 on an ace, the Mariners tallied the next seven points. A Bobcat service error began the spurt that also included kills from Kot, White and Kepler and a block by Kot and White.
The Mariners attempted to comeback in the fourth set. Down by five, Alexis Downey had back-to-back kills and a Bobcat attack error allowed Coastal Georgia to come to within two points (22-20). However, coming out of a timeout, St. Thomas notched the next three points in order to take the match.
