Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Upends Buffalo, Wins First MAC Contest
9/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Marshall Upends Buffalo, Wins First MAC Contest
9/28/2002
Buffalo, N.Y.?The Marshall Thundering Herd (10-4, 1-0) won their first Mid-American Conference match of the year Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Bulls (8-8, 0-2 MAC).
?It was great to get our first conference win,? said coach Mitch Jacobs, who has won ten matches in September for six out of the last seven seasons. ?We?re beyond where we?d thought we?d be right now, and that?s encouraging. Our defense is getting stingier and stingier, and our offense is coming around. But, you?ve got to credit our blocking today. We had our best day at the net all season when we needed it most.?
Marshall outlasted UB in game one, as they outscored the Bulls 8-3 to close out the game. However, MU had to mount an extensive comeback to begin the match when the Bulls opened up an 11-4 lead. The Herd scored the next nine out of 11 points to tie the score at 13, and then exchanged the lead twice before taking the lead for good at 22-22. MU hit .238 (16-6-42) for the game, while UB only hit .073 (11-8-41)
The Herd took control of game two early, stretching their lead to as many as eight at 19-11. But, UB closed out the Marshall lead, tieing the game at 26. They took their first lead of the game a point later, and shook off a Marshall comeback to take the game 31-29. In an almost reversal of hitting percentages, Buffalo outhit MU .278 (15-5-36) to .085(15-11-47), and took advantage of a plethora of MU serving errors (4), a continuing Herd trend. In Friday?s win over Canisius, Marshall had 17 service errors on the night.
MU won game three 30-24 behind stellar performances by Tracey King (Miami, Fla.) and Nicole Michal (Louisville, Ky), who both had five kills. The Herd took the lead for good at the 8-7 mark, and saw their lead balloon to as many as nine at 29-20. The Marshall offense rebounded with 20 kills, only seven errors, and 40 attempts (.325) after a poor game two effort.
Deciding game four belonged to Marshall after the Herd put together a 6-2 run with the score tied at 4. MU was never challenged after that, as the Herd cruised to their first MAC win of the season. Marshall was powered by a .550 hitting percentage (11-0-20), while Buffalo was held in the negative (-.029.)
Heidi Kuethe (Normal, Ill.) again had an unbelievable day, notching ten kills, with only one error, and 17 total attacks. She also had 12 digs and eight total blocks. Michal had her best match of the season with 14 kills (.480), while Isabelle Anderer (Sinsheim, Germany) and Tracey King had 14 and 11 kills, respectively. As a team, MU had 18 total blocks, the most of the season. Freshman Katie Stein (Sussex, Wis.) had 54 assists and four total blocks, including two solo.
Marshall plays their next three matches in the Henderson Center. The Herd takes on Ohio Wednesday, Eastern Michigan Friday, and Miami on Saturday.
