Marshall University Athletics
Thundering Herd Volleyball Opens Play this Weekend
8/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 24, 2006
BOONE, N.C. - The Marshall University Thundering Herd volleyball team will open up regular season play this weekend at the Mast General Store Appalachian Classic in Boone, N.C.
The first match for the Herd will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug 25 against the host school, Appalachian State. Saturday will feature two matches, the first at noon against Middle Tennessee and then at 5 p.m. against Radford.
Herd head coach Mitch Jacobs said he was eager to see how his team was going to perform.
"We can't be sure how we are going to compete until we get out there," he said. "Going into the first weekend you can't really prepare at all. We just have to have the team ready to go and make adjustments the best we can during the match."
Marshall will be going into the weekend without AVCA Honorable Mention All-American Kelly-Anne Billingy (Trincity, Trinidad), who is competing for the Trinidad and Tobago national team at the Caribbean Volleyball Championships. Jacobs said playing without Billingy will prove how his team and their opponents can adjust.
"We have to find out what will happen," Jacobs said. "When you don't have the player everybody knows who is going to be your go-to player, I'm interested in seeing how we are going to get defended."
The Herd will be playing two experienced squads in Middle Tennessee and Appalachian State and Jacobs said he hopes his team will gain valuable experience for the upcoming conference season.
"We're not setting any goals on wins or losses in this," he said. "Our goal is to win the Conference USA Championship."
"Appalachian State and Middle Tennessee are both teams who are returning most of their core," he said. "They both had excellent season last year and I'm almost hoping we are challenging them because we have a new lineup. Radford will have the energy from a new coach so we don't know what to expect from them whatsoever."
Jacobs said a host of players will see action for the Herd. With the performances of freshmen Emily Sullivan (Cincinnati, Ohio), Kristin Marcum (Arlington, Texas) and Taylor Strickland (Kenova, W.Va.) at last Saturday's Green/White scrimmage, Jacobs is eager to see what they can do in collegiate competition.
Setting things up for the Herd will be Christin Bimberg (Schwerin, Germany) and Katherine Poss (Newnan, Ga.). Jacobs said he is confident in both players' abilities.
"We have to see who is going to be our leader," he said. "Especially for the first two weekends for sure we are going to see both of them on the floor."
Marshall will look to improve on its 14-19 all-time record for season opening matches when it faces Appalachian State. The Herd has not faced the Mountaineers since 2000. The former Southern Conference foe holds the all time record over the Herd 22-12-1.
