Marshall University Athletics
Herd Shock Akron
11/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Herd Shock Akron
11/1/2002
Huntington, W.Va.--In one of the more memorable volleyball matches the Cam Henderson Center has seen, the Marshall volleyball team downed the Akron Zips, 3-2 (35-33, 25-30, 30-19, 17-30, 15-10) Friday night. The Herd improved to 16-7, 7-3 in Mid-American Conference play, while the Zips fell to 18-5, 9-2 in the MAC.
?You?ve got to really credit the girls for not packing it in after a bad game four,? said first year coach Mitch Jacobs. ?Akron is the best team in the league and we really played well in order to beat them.?
A 68-point game one provided a precursor to what was to come for 237 fans in the Henderson Center Friday night. Marshall jumped on the Zips early, widening their early lead to 11-4. Akron, who entered Friday?s play with the best record in the MAC East, came back with a vengeance, and with a service ace by the Zips? Jenn Snyder, Akron tied the game at 22. The Herd fought off a pair of game points at 29-28 and 33-32 to take the game 35-33. Akron?s Sandy Lewis had one ball blocked by Heidi Kuethe (Normal, Ill.) and Katie Stein (Sussex, Wis.), and another sail wide to give Marshall the last two points and the game. Akron also turned away three Marshall game points in an exciting game one.
Game two belonged to the Zips, as they torched the Herd with a .231 hitting percentage (14-5-39), while Marshall hit only .115 (16-10-52). As was the case in the first game, Akron came back after an early Thundering Herd advantage, taking the lead 15-14. The game was back-and-forth until Akron took the lead for good 23-22 on a Jenn Snyder kill. The Zips outscored Marshall 7-3 to tie the match at one.
Defense was the name of the game in set three for the Thundering Herd, as Marshall held Akron to a negative hitting percentage (-.120, 9-15-50) and beat the Zips, 30-19. MU took the lead early at 2-1 and never looked back. The Herd reeled off nine out of ten points to put the game away.
The momentum of the match swayed again towards the Zips in game four, when a hot-hitting Akron team blistered Marshall with a match-best .382 hitting percentage (15-2-34). Meanwhile, the Herd hit .000 (9-9-41) in their worst game of the match. In an exact reversal of fortune, UofA started the game with an early 2-1 advantage and kept the game out of reach the rest of the way. Their lead ballooned to ten at 20-10, and eventually to 13 twice at 29-16 and the final tally of 30-17.
The deciding game five turned in Marshall?s favor in the seventh point, when the Herd took a 4-3 lead on a kill by senior Grace Jones (Lakeland, Fla.). MU scored two more to make it 6-3, and Akron got the game as close as it would get at 7-5 three points later. The Herd closed out the match on a kill by Jones, 15-10.
?Volleyball is a matter of three games,? said Jacobs. ?That?s the one tough thing about this game, in that you just have to play three good games to win. That?s what we did.?
Marshall?s kill co-leaders on the night were Jones, who had 15, and Nicole Michal (Louisville, Ky.), who also tallied 15. Katie Stein had her best night ever as a Marshall player with 55 assists and 16 digs, while Amber Sims (Ney, Ohio) also chipped in 12 kills. Heidi Kuethe (11), Isabell Anderer (Sinsheim, Germany, 10), Ashley Barnard (Maumee, Ohio, 13), and Jodi Fick (Fremont, Ohio, 17) also notched double-digit digs.
Akron was led by Ashleigh Nugent, who had 17 kills. Sandy Lewis had 13 kills and 24 digs, while Jenn Snyder had 11 kills and 27 digs. Katie Kuzior had a double-double with 14 kills and 15 assists, while Rachael Rush was the fourth Akron player with a double-double with 54 assists and 15 digs.
Marshall returns to action tomorrow afternoon with a match against Central Michigan. Match time is 3 p.m.