FOLEY, Ala. – App State volleyball fell 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 25-13 to No. 12 Coastal Carolina at the Sun Belt Tournament on Thursday evening.
The Chanticleers (17-0) advance to the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals with the victory and will take on Little Rock on Saturday. App State sees its season come to a close.
Lexi Kohut led the Mountaineers with nine kills.
Grace Morrison finished with six kills and
Kara Spicer and
McCall Denny each had five kills.
Emma Reilly finished with a team-high 17 digs, with Denny adding eight and
Grace Kinsch finishing with six.
Sophie Cain dished out 19 assists for the Mountaineers (1-13).
In the opening set, App State broke a 6-6 tie with seven consecutive points to open a 13-6 edge. Coastal Carolina countered with a 7-0 run later in the set to jump in front 17-16. The Mountaineers came right back with a 7-2 spurt to build a 23-19 lead. From there, Coastal Carolina reeled off six straight points to take the opening frame 25-23.
The Mountaineers got back-to-back service aces from Morrison to begin the second set. Coastal Carolina answered with three straight points and used a 4-1 run later in the set to take an 11-8 advantage. The Mountaineers scored the next three points to knot the score at 11-11, only to see the Chanticleers respond with a 6-0 run to open a 17-11 edge. App State scored the next three points to pull within three, but could get no closer as the Chanticleers closed the set on a 4-1 spurt to take the set 25-18 and take a 2-0 lead.
Coastal Carolina took a 6-1 lead early in Set 3, but App State roared back to tie the score at 8-8. The score remained tight throughout the set and App State used a late 6-0 run, getting three service aces from Reilly along the way, to take a 24-20 lead. Coastal Carolina scored the next three points, before a kill from Morrison gave App State the set 25-23.
App State took an early 3-2 lead in the fourth set, before the Chanticleers responded with four straight points to open a 6-3 edge. Coastal Carolina then used a 7-1 run to expand its lead to 15-7. The Mountaineers pulled within seven points, but could get no closer the rest of the set, falling 25-13 and dropping the match 3-1.
Reilly sees her career close with the fifth most digs in program history, totaling 1,655. In addition, she also recorded 140 service aces, which ranks fifth all-time.
Spicer concludes her career with 1,040 kills and a .292 hitting percentage. Her hitting mark sits sixth all-time in program history.
