Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Rice
Herd Volleyball Sweeps Rice in Close Match
10/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 22, 2006
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HUNTINGTON - Kelly-Anne Billingy's 22 kills and Maggie Arias' 14 digs led the Thundering Herd to a 3-0 (33-31, 30-27, 30-24) win over Rice at the Cam Henderson Center on Sunday.
Rice (11-14, 4-7 C-USA) put up a valiant effort in the loss. The Owls extended game one to 33 points and led for a large portion of game three. Marshall's (16-6, 8-3 C-USA) head coach Mitch Jacobs said the Owls played admirably.
"I thought Rice played well," he said. "We saw at least close to Rice's best today. They were passing and clicking out there and playing good defense."
Marshall held the lead for an extended period in game two and stretched its lead out to 23-15.
"We were keeping the balls in bounds and they were struggling a little bit," Jacobs said.
Rice then went on a late rally to take the game to 30-27. Jacobs said he thought the Owls were able to take some of the match's momentum going into the break.
"We had them down a little bit in game two and then all of a sudden we go through a little rash of hitting errors and they climbed back in and got more confident," Jacobs said. "I think they took that confidence right into game three where we had to dig out of a hole."
In game three the Owls took the lead and held it until the match reached 20-20, when the Herd fought back for the 30-24 match victory.
"We didn't take a timeout and they (Marshall) had to fight through it," Jacobs said. "They dug in and hung tight and we started to play more aggressively and that's what we have to do."
On defense for the Herd, libero Arias moved into third place all-time in Marshall history with her 1,186th dig for her career. Arias' team-best 14 digs in the match moved her ahead of former Herd great Alisha Babel's 1,185.
Marshall had a trio of players with double figure kills. Billingy along with Stephanie Cahill's 15 and Uche Ndubisi's 10 were the Herd's offensive leaders. Jacobs said Cahill's performance was instrumental in the team's win.
"They played good defense against Billingy and I thought Steph Cahill had a big impression tonight," he said "Her doing her job tonight put us over the edge. If she was a little off tonight it could have been a different outcome for sure."
The Herd will be back in action for two more home matches on Homecoming weekend. First the Herd will play UCF at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27 at the Cam Henderson Center and finish the weekend with a 1 p.m. match on Sunday with Southern Miss.
