Marshall University Athletics
Herd Win Thriller Against Winthrop, Capture Microtel Invitational
9/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Herd Win Thriller Against Winthrop, Capture Microtel Invitational
9/7/2002
Greensboro, N.C.--The Marshall Thundering Herd volleyball team (3-3) won its third straight match with a five-set win over the Winthrop Eagles, 24-30, 30-20, 30-17, 26-30, and 15-17. With the victory Saturday evening, the Herd took home the UNC Greensboro Microtel Invitational. The win also gave Winthrop, an NCAA tournament team last season, their first loss of the year.
?I feel like this win (vs. Winthrop) was our very first big win of the year,? said first-year coach Mitch Jacobs. ?They were an NCAA team last year and they are favored to win the Big South this year. They have two legitimate players, and we took one of them out of their strengths. That was an important key to our victory tonight.?
Marshall dropped the opening game 30-24 as Winthrop took advantage of the Herd?s abundance of errors (-.028 hitting percentage). MU won the next two games rather easily, 30-20 and 30-17, respectively, but dropped the fourth game 30-26. The deciding fifth game was knotted at 15 until junior Isabell Anderer (Sinsheim, Germany) registered a kill to push the Herd up one. Then, with senior Heidi Kuethe (Normal, Ill.) serving, Anderer put the game away, as she put away a Winthrop floating freeball.
Kuethe was outstanding for the Herd throughtout the entire match, putting away 12 kills, with only three errors. She also had 14 digs. Anderer hit for a .308 percentage (17 kills, five errors, 39 total attempts), while junior Tracey King (Miami, Fla.) was the team?s kill leader with 19.
?Heidi Kuethe was outstanding tonight,? said Jacobs. ?She gave us the senior leadership we need night in and night out. She was our clutch kid tonight. Tracey King was also fabulous. She was in orbit tonight. She was going over some 6?3 middle blockers.?
Earlier in the day, Marshall opened with a three sets to one victory over the High Point University Panthers (0-5), 30-26, 27-30, 30-22, 30-17.
In a match that lasted almost two hours, the Panthers put a scare into the Thundering Herd early, losing by only four points in game one and taking the second game with a late rally. However, as the match progressed, MU pulled away from High Point behind senior Heidi Kuethe (Normal, Ill.) who had 15 kills and only two errors in 23 total attempts. The .565 hitting percentage was a team season high.
?This is the kind of effort we?re going to need going into MAC play,? said Jacobs.
Other strong performers included Tracey King (Miami, Fla.) who tallied 11 kills, and Grace Jones (Lakeland, Fla.), who knocked down nine kills. True freshman setter Katie Stein (Sussex, Wis.) had 40 assists and four kills in the win.
