Errors Prove too Much to Overcome in the Fire's Loss to Coastal Georgia

BRUNSWICK, Ga.- The Southeastern University volleyball team fell to 13-9 and 2-3 in Sun Conference play tonight with their 3-1 loss to the College of Coastal Georgia Mariners.
 
Errors for both sides seemed to be the story of the first set as the teams combined for a total of 21 errors which allowed the Fire to capitalize on four early service errors by the Mariners to take a 7-5 lead in the first set. A timeout got Coastal Georgia back in the set as they managed to take a 10-9 lead after three Fire attack errors. The two teams took turns exchanging points until the scoreboard saw a two point lead for the Mariners at 17-15. Four more attack errors by the Fire allowed the Mariners to secure the first set by a score of 25-21.
 
The service and attack errors continued for the Fire into the second half but twelve kills aided in the Fire's 25-20 second set victory to tie the match at one. The Mariners began the second set with a 5-1 lead over the Fire but kills by Baylee Warneke, Grace Petty, Alexandra Poslethwaite, and Emilia Harding completed a comeback that tied the set at 9-9. Three consecutive errors by the Fire allowed the Mariners to expand their lead to 14-11 but more kills by Petty and Warneke again tied the score, this time at 18 a piece. Senior Jordyn Stiger then strung together three consecutive kills to give the Fire a 24-19 lead and the eventual 25-20 victory to tie the match at one.
 
The Fire came out swinging in the third set with kills from Chapel Cunningham, Petty, and Stiger giving them a 7-3 lead but the Mariners kept their composure and mounted a comeback as the result of more Fire mishandles and took the third set 25-16.
 
Another hot start to a set for the Fire saw them take the first four points uncontested aided by kills by Cunningham and Cao and take an early 6-1 lead in the fourth set. Two more kills by Kennedy Jones followed by three more Cao kills brought the score to 14-11. Sylvia Liszewski and Julia Alves then subbed onto the court and recorded kills as the Fire advanced their lead to 21-19 but three consecutive kills by the Mariners secured the 25-23 set victory and the 3-1 match victory.
 
As a team, the Fire hit .132 through four sets played and was led by Cao who registered 12 kills. Stiger ended the night with a hitting percentage of .316 and nine kills while Poslethwaite added to her season total with 26 assists.
 
The Fire will be back in action at home on October 8^th at home for another Sun Conference matchup against Webber International at 7 p.m.