Marshall University Athletics
Kent State Edges Herd Volleyball 3-2
10/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Kent State Edges Herd Volleyball 3-2
10/1/2004
- Box Score
KENT, Ohio - The Kent State Golden Flashes ended Marshall's three-match winning streak in a classic five-game battle (27-30, 30-21, 27-30, 30-21, 15-17) at the M.A.C. Center Friday night.
The Flashes picked up the win to move to 6-4 on the season and 3-0 in the Mid-American Conference, the Herd falls to 8-6, 2-1 in the MAC.
"It was one of the best matches I've ever been involved in," Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs said. "There's nothing more I can say than it was a great match and two teams gave it their all tonight."
In the Herd's two 27-30 losses in games one and three, each game was back and forth, but Kent State was able to convert at more opportune times. The Herd then bounced back with a vengeance in games two and four with 30-21 wins in both.
"Our young team showed incredible resiliency out there to come back like they did after losing two close, competitive games and come back and dominate games two and four. That was big for us tonight," Jacobs said.
With the game coming down to the wire in game five, Marshall missed a big point at 14-13 to win and the Flashes went on to pick up the victory and gain an early advantage over the Herd in the MAC East.
"We played a wonderful a match and so did Kent," Jacobs said. "You can't take anything away from them, they were up for the test and finished the task when they needed to on big points. You can be nothing but proud of this Marshall team tonight, they left it all on the floor and played their hearts out."
For the match, Marshall outhit the Golden Flashes, .298 to .190 and outdug Kent 64-52, but one of the big stats of the night against the Herd was 18 service errors.
Leading the way for the Herd were freshmen Kelly-Anne Billingy (Trincity, Trinidad) and Stephanie Cahill (Louisville, Ky.). Billingy had 29 kills for the second consecutive match. She finished with a .397 hitting percentage, nine digs and two blocks. Cahill had 17 kills and 17 digs to go along with a .297 hitting percentage.
Also for the Herd, junior Amber Sims (Ney, Ohio), had 15 kills and a .417 hitting percentage. Nickie Sanlin (Fairview Heights, Ill) had nine kills, a 3.19 hitting mark and seven blocks. Christin Bimberg (Schwerin, Germany) had five blocks and 11 digs. Junior setter Katie Stein (Sussex, Wis.) matched a season high with 61 assists. She also had nine digs and two service aces. Freshman Maggie Arias (Indianapolis, Ind.) had 14 digs.
Junior Danielle Holt had 23 kills for the Flashes, but was held by a stingy Herd defense to only a .140 hitting percentage with 15 errors.
Marshall will now get ready for a matchup with in-state rival West Virginia and try to defend the Golden Ball title as state champion, Tuesday, Oct. 5, at the Cam Henderson Center.
"It was a great match tonight and we would've loved to pull it out, but we've got to get ready for WVU now and try to build on the things we did well and minimize the errors at big points."
