LAKELAND, Fla. - The Coastal Georgia Mariners (9-5, 3-1) beat the Southeastern Fire (8-5, 1-3) in a five-set match. The Mariners offensive efficiency propels them to victory.
Coastal Georgia 3, Southeastern 2 (25-7, 25-23, 22-25, 24-26, 15-8)
After easily handling the Fire in the first set and limiting them to the lowest amount of points scored against in a set this season, Southeastern came back swinging in set two. Despite the more competitive play, the Mariners bested the Fire 25-23. Up two sets to zero, the Fire made a two-set comeback to tie the match 2-2. In crunch time, the Mariners handled set five as they did set one. Making quick work, Coastal Georgia won the final set 15-8, winning the match three sets to two.
Sophomore rightside
Adair Werley led the Mariners offensively with a game and season-high 16 kills. Senior outside
Addie Pedraza totaled 11 kills in today's match. She also maintained a .206 hitting percentage.
Senior outside
Sam Kepler proved the most efficient for the Mariners, recording a .261 hitting percentage. She collected 10 kills. Sophomore middle
Tamaira Laezza also collected 10. Following closely behind, junior middle blocker
Alison Muldrow added nine kills with a .238 hitting percentage. This is Muldrow's ninth match hitting above 200 out of 14 matches.
Defensively, Libero
Yorelis Rios Gonzalez led the show. She collected a game-high 26 digs. Three other Mariners finished with double-digit digs. Junior Gardieliz Laureano-Andujar collected 15 digs, setter
Ashley Kot finished with 12 and senior defensive specialist
Madie Bunge totaled 10.
Setting a 5-1, Kot collected a game and season-high 44 assists. Senior
Jane Townsend proved effective at the server line again, totaling four aces, a new career-high. Muldrow added three aces, a career-high as well.
With this victory, the Mariners advance to 9-5 on the season and 3-1 in The Sun Conference.
The Mariners are back in action this weekend with a tri-match against #2 in conference Florida Memorial and a non-conference match against Florida College on the road. The Mariners play this Saturday, September 28th at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
