Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Miami (Oh)
Herd Defeats Former Foe Miami in Home Opener
9/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 5, 2006
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HUNTINGTON - It may have been a long time for the defending Conference USA Champion Marshall Thundering Herd volleyball team to make its way back to the Cam Henderson Center but the Herd did not disappoint most of the 520 fans in attendance.
Marshall (3-5) defeated former Mid-American Conference rival Miami (Ohio) (3-4) by a score of 3-1 (30-25, 30-16, 32-34, 30-22) Tuesday night.
The Herd was lead by outside hitters Kelly-Anne Billingy (Trincity, Trinidad) and Stephanie Cahill (Louisville, Ky.) all night. Both players recorded double-doubles in the win. Billingy led all players with 27 kills while Cahill was a close second with 24 and an attacking average of .391. The pair's dig total was also noteworthy with Cahill besting Billingy, 19 and 16, respectively.
Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs said he was impressed with the performance of the two.
"What more can you say about Steph and Kelly," he said. "We stepped it up on defense, they both had great matches for us."
Leading the way in the dig department for the Herd was junior libero Maggie Arias (Indianapolis, Ind.) and her 21. But defense was played in front of the net as well with seven Marshall players scoring at least one block. Uche Ndubisi (Indianapolis, Ind.) led the way with five blocks and regained her hold on the conference lead with 35. Cahill, Billingy and Chelsea Lazar (Palm Harbor, Fla.) each chipped in with two.
Christin Bimberg (Schwerin, Germany) set a new career-high for assists with 68. Her single match total is good enough for third-most in C-USA. She also added three aces to her night's totals.
Jacobs said it was a tough match with the RedHawks and the former MAC rival was definitely a quality opponent.
"I'm proud of our team after we let game three slip away from us," he said. "We were able to regroup and win game four. This Miami team is as good as any we've played."
The Herd will next be in action at the Pitt Invitational in Pittsburgh. Marshall will face Lehigh at 4:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 8 and then on Saturday will face No. 11 Tennessee at 10:30 a.m. and the host Pittsburgh at 7:30 p.m.
