BRUNSWICK, Ga. – The Coastal Georgia Mariners (17-7, 10-3) swept the Southeastern Fire (18-9, 9-4) in their final matchup of regular season play.
Senior outside Addie Pedraza and junior middle blocker Alison Muldrow led the Mariner with 10 kills apiece. Muldrow recorded a .562 hitting percentage and made only one error throughout the match. Pedraza finished with a .258 hitting percentage and gave up two errors.
Freshman Hannah Williams collected the next highest kills with five from the rightside and Adair Werley led the Mariners with a .667 kill percentage out of the middle.
Ashley Kot led Coastal Georgia with 16 assists and collected three kills on four attempts. Junior Gardieliz Laureano-Andujar added 12 assists and a game-high three aces.
Defensively, the Mariners were led by senior Libero Yorelis Rios Gonzalez. She collected 16 digs. Not far behind, senior defensive specialist Jane Townsend added 13 digs, a career-high.
Coastal Georgia 3, Southeastern 0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-17)
Set One:
The Mariners came out with a bang in set one, executing multiple kills in the beginning of the game. Coastal Georgia capitalized on Fire errors and took a six-point lead, 19-13 forcing a Fire timeout. A timeout did not deter the Mariners as they came out of the break with an ace. As Mariners worked toward a set one victory, Muldrow had a powerful kill to the left side of the court to lead the Fire 22-15.
The Southeastern Fire, not finished yet strung together three points to close the gap 22-18. Freshman rightside Lillian Carlson said no more and brought the Mariners within one point of set one with a tool kill from the right side.
The final point of set one was a defensive masterpiece. Southeastern got off some good swings, but the Mariner refused to let the ball fall. Coastal Georgia made one handed saves, and a dig from junior defensive specialist Keelin Pilgrim helped them outlast Southeastern. The Mariners beat the Fire 25-19.
Set Two:
The Mariners had proved their explosive offense was effective in beating Southeastern. However, they came into set two with some more strategy in mind. Setter Kot set the tone of the game at 4-2 when she dumped the ball in center court. Aiding the Mariners in game two, sophomore Kaci Hollenbacher hit on the rightside and junior Pilgrim, who made an appearance in set one, stepped into the defensive specialist role.
The Mariners kept up with their smart offensive play, as demonstrated by Muldrow's swing to the right side ten-foot line and Pedraza's deep but fast kill down the line that the Fire could not handle.
Coastal Georgia quickly took the lead and led by as many as ten in the second set Kot silenced a Southeastern run with another smart play. She dumped the ball to the right corner. Her kill silenced the Fire but the Mariner crowd roared.
Coastal Georgia finished the set with a three point run. A kill by Pedraza, an ace from Laureano-Andujar and a kill by Muldrow carried the Mariners to a 25-13 victory.
Set Three:
Despite a block by Southeastern in the third set, Coastal Georgia handled Southeastern comfortably in the deciding set. The teams dueled tight to a 11-10 score, where after a few Fire points, the Mariners took a timeout to regroup.
Out of the timeout the Mariners were unstoppable. They came off the break with a tangent play executed by rightside Williams, followed by an ace from Rios Gonzalez to take the Mariners to a 13-10 lead.
The Mariners continued to push through and capitalized on Southeastern errors to win the game 25-17.
The Mariners are back in action this Saturday, November 2nd against Florida Memorial University. The first serve is slated for 2:00p.m.
