Marshall University Athletics
MU Volleyball Storms Back to Down Miami, 3-1
10/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
MU Volleyball Storms Back to Down Miami, 3-1
10/4/2003
- Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio ? The Marshall volleyball team snapped a three-match Millet Hall losing streak dating back to 1999, by winning three consecutive games to upend the host Miami RedHawks 3-1 (21-30, 32-30, 30-16, 30-27) on the strength of a 14-kill, four-block performance by Thundering Herd sophomore Nickie Sanlin (Fairview Heights, Ill.) on Saturday.
Sanlin killed 14 balls to set a new career-high while logging 26 total attempts and only two errors for a .462 hitting percentage to give Marshall its second straight Mid-American Conference victory.
Marshall (12-6, 2-1 MAC) got off to a sluggish start, dropping the first game by nine points, 21-30. The Thundering Herd was down by five points during one stage of game two, but roared back to snag a 32-30 win on a Tracey King (Miami, Fla.) kill to tie the contest at 1-1.
The Herd carried the game two momentum into the third stanza to cruise past the RedHawks (7-12, 1-4 MAC) by a 30-16 final score. Marshall hit at a .314 clip in game three compared to Miami?s .000 hitting percentage.
The RedHawks have now lost three straight matches, all of which came in league play while the Thundering Herd picked up its third straight win.
Marshall?s Isabell Anderer (Sinsheim, Germany) posted 13 kills and 12 digs, her sixth double-double effort of 2003, while registering the exclamation point game-four kill to seal the Herd victory.
Christin Bimberg (Schwerin, Germany) tallied 10 kills for the Herd and Katie Stein (Sussex, Wis.) recorded a match-high 52 assists, her fifth 50-plus assist effort this season.
Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs was quite enthusiastic about his team?s effort on Saturday.
?I was so proud of the team for not letting this go to five games,? Jacobs, in his second year at Marshall, said. ?And to win it in three straight games after losing game one was awesome. Nickie Sanlin and Christin (Bimberg) had outstanding matches.
?We dug everything they (Miami) threw at us."
Anja Wilk, a freshman from Plate, Germany, came up with 10 digs and four kills as Marshall outhit the RedHawks .247 to .145, in terms of hitting percentage.
Tara Buroker recorded a double-double for Miami with 11 kills and 19 digs.
Marshall's Amber Sims (Ney, Ohio), a sophomore, led the Marshall defensive surge with eight blocks (1 solo) compared to only seven total attempts to celebrate her birthday in Oxford. The Herd nearly doubled Miami's block output, 12.0 to 6.5 on the night.
?Sims blocked more balls than she swung at,? Jacobs said, ?that?s a selfless act.?
It's tough to win here (Millett Hall)," Jacobs said. "We stole it. Everyone of these conference wins on the road is a steal. We had to get one back after Ohio took one from us (at home last weekend)."
Marshall will hit the court again on Sunday afternoon, taking on the Xavier Musketeers (6-9, 1-1 Atlantic-10) at 3 p.m. from the Cintas Center. XU won its Saturday night affair 3-0 over La Salle after losing its conference opener on Friday to Temple.
Tune into to 88.1 WMUL-FM for all the live action, or use the link above for streaming audio of the Herd?s road contest with Xavier, as Vince Payne and Jennifer Pierce will provide the courtside call.
Note: Should the above link to WMUL not work, Herd fans can log on themselves to the broadcast at www.marshall.edu/wmul.