The Monarchs complete the Sun Belt series sweep of Coastal Carolina with a 3-1 victory on Saturday

NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Volleyball overcame a slow start to claim another 3-1 victory over Coastal Carolina on Saturday afternoon at the ODU Volleyball Center.

The Monarchs maintained their winning streak and secured their 10th straight victory while improving to 13-2 overall with a 2-0 start in Sun Belt Conference play. The team is now just one win away from matching the program’s single-season record of 14 wins, set last year.

“Today was tough,” ODU head coach Fred Chao said. “It was a lot of courage and resilience. Our ability to stick together and work together pays off in some of these really difficult situations. We did really poorly in the first set, so it was really good that we were able to pick ourselves up and keep going.”

ODU is also tied with CCU in the all-time series at 3-3.

ODU 3, CCU 1

The Monarchs fell in the first set 25-12. They fell behind 8-4 early and looked like they were gaining some momentum as a couple of kills from LeeAnne Lowery helped push the Chanticleers’ (6-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) lead to 8-7 to reduce. However, CCU got back into the swing of things when a pair of service aces from Jalyn Stout gave the visitors a 15-8 lead. From then on, ODU could no longer catch the chants as the visitors won nine of the last ten points to close out the set.

ODU got off to a better start in the second set as Myah Conway scored an attack try and Elisa Maggi scored back-to-back aces for an early 3-0 lead. The set remained close with ten draws and four lead changes as neither team was able to pull away. After the set was tied at 22-22 thanks to a kill by Emma Schelah, an attack error by Stout and a kill by Hailee Blankenship gave ODU the lead 24-22. The Chants responded when Lauren Malone assisted Agata Lesiak, but Conway fended off a ball from Ashlynn Belcher to win the set 25-23.

The Monarchs would take the overall lead with a score of 25-20 in the third set. Alice Munari set the tone with three kills as the home team started the set 5-1. Another intense set that saw the Chants take the lead 12-11 thanks to kills and hitting errors from the Monarchs. CCU was able to tie the score at 11-11 thanks to an ace from Stout and later forced an ODU timeout as they took an 18-15 lead. The Chants couldn’t stop the Monarchs, however, as an 8-1 swing allowed ODU to win another set.

When asked about Munari’s contributions, Chao replied: “She is an experienced player and can be explosive when she wants and needs to be. You have to hold her back a little bit and then she becomes this different player. And then when you let her go, she knows what to do. It’s great to have her in the squad too.”

The fourth set was tied 5-5 when CCU’s Lesiak scored on a charge and Siri Engstrom recorded a solo block to give the Chants control. However, Bryanna Jones contributed four kills to the Monarchs’ 9-0 run. A few turnovers later, Jones and Lowery made a block to give ODU a 15-10 lead. The Monarchs continued to pull away and took the lead 23:16 thanks to a kill from Elisa Maggi. Coastal still showed a bit of fight with two late kills that cut the ODU lead to 23-18, but kills from Maggi and Munari helped secure the win with a 25-19 final.

Seven different Monarchs recorded a kill, led by Munari with nine kills while hitting .412 on the day and Maggi finishing with eight kills. Belcher posted a 19-assist performance, Elisabeth Levick also had double-digit assists with 10 and Maggi served three aces. Lowery again led ODU at the net with six blocks, while Conway and Schelah each had three blocks. The defensive line was led by Kate Kilpatrick with 14 digs.

ODU hit .184 overall in the match, but posted a .261 hitting percentage in the second set and finished the fourth set strong with a .467 hitting percentage. CCU led in most team stats, but ODU outscored the visitors in blocks 9-8. Both teams scored 39 digs in the game.

Next

ODU will be back in action next Friday and Saturday, Oct. 11-12, when the Monarchs host App State. The series marks the team’s Dig Pink Weekend as Old Dominion partners with the Side-Out Foundation.