Marshall University Athletics
Herd Volleyball Stopped in Home Opener
9/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Herd Volleyball Stopped in Home Opener
9/23/2003
- Box Score
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. ? The Marshall volleyball team was dealt a tough five-game loss in its home opener on Tuesday at the hands of the Eastern Kentucky Colonels in the Gullickson Hall gymnasium.
Eastern Kentucky (9-5) won the five-game affair by scores of 27-30, 30-28, 30-23, 24-30 and 15-5. The Colonels? Jessica Sabath had a monster evening, collecting 26 kills and 22 digs for a .382 hitting percentage.
Game five was tied at 5-5, but the Colonels ran off 10 straight points to close the door on Marshall and end the Thundering Herd?s seven-match win streak, it?s longest since 1996.
Marshall (9-5) battled for an early game one win, but could not pick up a second game victory until the fourth stanza. Nicole Michal (Louisville, Ky.) led the Thundering Herd with 17 kills and a .455 hitting percentage. The senior outside hitter added 11 digs to record her third double-double of 2003.
?Michal played great tonight,? Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs said. ?But, overall, we lost to a very good team that has already beaten better teams than us so far this season.
?Eastern Kentucky will make you beat them, and we played passively tonight. That just won?t get it done against a team like that.?
The Herd?s team hitting percentage (.161) was below EKU?s .226 percentage, although MU was able to register 11 blocks to the Colonels? nine.
Amber Sims (Ney, Ohio) had 15 kills on the evening, a new career high for the sophomore. Isabell Anderer (Sinsheim, Germany), fresh off her tournament MVP nod at the WVU Invitational, sent 13 balls to the hardwood, for her second straight 13-plus kill match.
Marshall will open up Mid-American Conference play on Friday with Ohio University. The Bobcats and Herd will square off at 7 p.m. from Gullickson Hall.
