CCU volleyball team makes program history with first NCAA tournament victory

The Coastal Carolina women’s volleyball team made program history Friday afternoon.

The Chanticleers topped James Madison in five sets (19-25, 25-18, 25-18, 17-25, 15-9) in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday afternoon.

It was Coastal’s first NCAA tournament victory in six tries. The Chants also set a school record with their 28th win of the season and tied a program record with their 18th straight win.

CCU will take on No. 7 national seed North Carolina in a second-round matchup at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“[The game] was awesome. We have been working hard all summer and all season on the court and with our academics, hoping for it to lead to this moment,” junior middle blocker Annayka Legros said at a post-match press conference. “We left everything on the floor tonight, and hopefully we do it again tomorrow.”

Losing the first set put Coastal in a predicament, but the Chants fought back to win the second, paving the way for a very competitive match.

“Our serves were definitely so much better. I feel like we were just more focused on what we could do with the balls that we touched,” junior outside hitter Leah Hardeman said. “If we were serving, passing, setting, or hitting, we were just trying to get a good pass, serve, or return the ball with a good swing. I feel like that was more of the deal in the second set. We were more focused and less nervous than we were in the first game.”

Legros led Coastal with 19 kills, Sara Boothe had 40 assists and Carla Cahill led the squad with 17 digs.

In the end it proved to be a historic win for the Chants.

“I’m super excited. You see young players in college volleyball face a lot of pressure in the NCAA tournament, and we didn’t play our best, but finally, we figured out how we could win this game,” CCU coach Jozsef Forman said at the press conference. “I give a lot of credit to my players. I looked at them before [the match] and last night – they were in the lobby studying. It’s crazy, and today they have to perform. I’m really proud of my players and the program. This means a lot for me.”

With the Tar Heels waiting, Coastal has little time to enjoy the historic win before getting back on the court. Nonetheless, it was a special moment for a team that exited in the first round the last two seasons.

“I feel like we all played together and I feel like we worked really hard to make sure that in this third appearance [in the NCAA tournament] for us, we were going to come here and actually [advance from] the first round,” Hardeman said. “Not to make it seem like we were just going to win our conference and just leave again, because that has happened before. We were very determined.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 9:05 PM with the headline "CCU volleyball team makes program history with first NCAA tournament victory."