Marshall University Athletics
MU Volleyball Falls to Ohio in MAC Opener
9/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
MU Volleyball Falls to Ohio in MAC Opener
9/26/2003
- Box Score
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. ? Laura Hageman and Briana Adamovsky recorded 12 kills and 38 assists, respectively, to lead the No. 31-ranked Ohio Bobcats past the Marshall Thundering Herd 3-0 (30-16, 30-28, 30-23) in Mid-American Conference volleyball action at Gulllickson Gym on Friday.
Hageman, the 2002 MAC Player of the Year, added five digs and three blocks to her totals, finishing the evening with a .333 hitting percentage to move Ohio to a 10-3 overall record, 1-0 in the MAC.
The conference opener for Marshall (9-6, 0-1 MAC) proved to be a struggle versus the MAC East Division?s preseason favorite, as Ohio hit at a .343 clip compared to the Herd?s .184 hitting percentage. MU?s Nicole Michal (Louisville, Ky.) recorded a team-high 10 kills and Ashley Barnard (Maumee, Ohio) led all players with 11 digs.
?We played pretty good,? Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs said, ?we just happened to run into the top team in the conference.?
Game two was a tight affair in which the Bobcats went up 28-26 before Marshall rallied off two points to tie it at 28-28. An Anja Wilk (Plate, Germany) attack error coupled with an Adamovsky kill put the game away for Ohio and gave the visitors from Athens a 2-0 lead.
The Herd and Bobcats exchanged points fairly evenly throughout the deciding game, but Ohio scored five unanswered points to win the game by a 30-23 final.
Marshall played in front of a boisterous Gullickson Gym crowd of over 400 that raised the decibel levels throughout the match, prompting Jacobs to comment on the Herd?s ?Flood the Gully? promotion. ?The crowd was great,? he said, ?we?ll be a tough team to beat in our home environment.?
The Herd will get its chance to notch home victory number on Sunday, when the defending MAC East champion Akron Zips travel to Huntington for both squads second MAC match of 2003.
Akron is lead by seniors Sandy Lewis, Ashleigh Nugent, Monica Morlock and Lyndsay Schmiedel. Morlock netted an all-tournament team honor at last weekend's Raider Challenge at Wright State. The middle hitter led the Zips in hitting percentage and blocks over the course of the tournament.
The Herd and Zips will square off at 3 p.m. on Sunday from Gullickson Gym.
