Dukes Suffer Setback at Coastal Carolina

Friday, October 20

Conway, S.C.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

15-5,8-1Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina

14-7,9-0Sun Belt

James Madison

Coastal Carolina

10/20/2023 8:47:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

CONWAY, S.C. – James Madison volleyball dropped its first Sun Belt Conference match of the season, falling in straight sets to Coastal Carolina Friday evening.

The Chanticleers swept the Dukes by set scores of 27-25, 25-21 and 25-20. With the win, Coastal Carolina moved to 14-7 and a perfect 9-0 in league play. With the loss, JMU fell to 15-5 and 8-1 against conference opponents.

Sophie Davis led the Dukes with 13 kills, but JMU was held to a collective .155 hitting percentage by the Coastal defense. Elizabeth Helmich added eight kills while Alex Kwasnik finished with six.

Overall, the Chanticleers hit .252 and finished with more kills (44-35), blocks (9-6) and assists (43-36) than the Dukes. Jasmine Rivest led all players with 17 kills, while Valentina Varani assisted on seven blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1: Coastal Carolina 27-25

The Dukes opened with a 9-3 lead, highlighted by a kill from Miëtte Veldman.
After JMU extended its advantage to 12-5, Coastal scored five straight, bringing the score to 12-10.
The Dukes owned a 15-11 edge at the media timeout, however, Coastal stormed ahead with a 9-1 run to take a 20-16 lead in the set.
A CCU service error ended the run, and consecutive kills from Kwasnik and Helmich cut the Chanticleer lead to 20-19.
Out of the timeout, Brenya Reid notched a kill which tied the score at 20. After the two teams traded points, the Dukes took back the lead (22-21) on a kill from Veldman.
The Chanticleers jumped back ahead with a 3-0 run, reaching set point at 24-22.
JMU fought off two set points and tied the score at 24 on a Coastal attacking error.
A successful Coastal challenge gave the home team a 25-24 advantage, but a service error tied the score at 25.
A kill from Jasmine Rivest and a block from Jalyn Stout closed the set and gave the Chanticleers a 1-0 set lead.

Set 2: Coastal Carolina 25-21

Coastal Carolina jumped out 5-1 in the second which forced a JMU timeout.
The Dukes battled back, trimming the deficit to one (6-5) on a service ace from Rebecca Watkins.
Coastal responded and scored six of seven, giving the Chants a 12-7 lead.
The Dukes trailed by two (16-14) after a Coastal attacking error, but the Chants extended its lead to 20-15 on a kill from Rivest.
JMU scored three straight, capped off by Davis' sixth kill of the match, cutting the deficit to two (20-18).
However, a kill and service ace from Jalyn Stout wrapped up the set to give the Chants a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set 3: Coastal Carolina 25-20

Looking to force a fourth, two service aces from Jaydyn Clemmer gave the Dukes a quick 4-0 lead.
JMU continued to build a lead as Davis' 10th kill made it 9-2.
With JMU up 12-3, Coastal slowly fought back into the set. A 4-0 run cut the deficit to 12-7 before the Dukes called a timeout.
A Veldman kill made it 13-7, but a 9-2 run powered the Chanticleers to a 16-15 lead.
The teams traded points with Coastal still holding a slim 19-18 lead. However, five unanswered points gave Coastal match point (24-18), and a kill from Rivest handed JMU its first conference loss of 2023.

Quick Hits

The loss marked the Dukes' second as a member of the Sun Belt Conference (26-2) since joining the league in 2022, with the last loss coming against Texas State (3-1) on Oct. 1, 2022.
With 13 kills, Davis entered the top 10 in kills in JMU school history with 1,130. Additionally, her two solo blocks pushed her career total to 113, surpassing Karla Gessler (1997-00) for the second most in school history.
Helmich's eight kills are her most since Penn State on Sept. 3, 2023, when she also recorded eight. The senior finished with a .438 hitting percentage (8-1-16).

UP NEXT
JMU and Coastal Carolina will wrap up their two-game series tomorrow at 1 p.m. The match can be streamed on ESPN+.