Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Houston
Volleyball Earns Weekend Split With 3-0 Sweep Of Houston
10/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 12, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University's Jalicia Ross (Bank Village, Trinidad) blasted a team-high 12 kills and Elizabeth Fleming (South Bend, Ind.) distributed a match-best 33 assists to propel the Thundering Herd to a 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-14) sweep of Houston in Sunday afternoon's Conference USA volleyball match at the Cam Henderson Center.
With the win, Marshall snaps its four-match losing skid to improve to 9-8 overall, 2-5 in league action. Houston saw its four-match winning streak snapped, and falls to 11-8 on the season, 3-3 in conference play. The win extended the Herd's all-time record to 5-1 against the Cougars.
Leading 2-0 in the match, Marshall rushed out to a 19-8 lead on the strength of three Megan Carlson (Andover, Minn.) kills, and two each from Ross and Kristin Marcum (Arlington, Texas). From there, the teams would score five points apiece to bring the score to 24-14, before Marcum sealed the set and match with her fourth kill of the contest.
"I'm really happy for the girls," head coach Mitch Jacobs said following the win. "They played together as a team. I think it's exciting that they were able to put Friday night behind them. I think it's very important that we got this [win] today. I don't know that we worked hard enough this week to get this win, but I think it shows that when you play together as a team, it can make up for a lot of insufficiencies."
In set one, Marshall built an early 8-3 lead before Houston scored eight of the next 11 points to bring the score to an 11-11 deadlock. Following a 16-16 tie, Kinsey Cave put the Cougars ahead with a kill before Ross knotted the frame with a kill of her own. From there, Carlson drilled a ball to the floor, putting the Herd in the lead for good. The Herd used a 7-4 run over the final 11 points that saw Emily Sullivan (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Cameron Yoho (Sistersville, W.Va.) notch two kills each, capped by Ross's fifth kill of the opening stanza.
Marshall posted an early 10-8 edge to open the second frame before a 12-3 run gave the Herd a commanding 22-11 advantage. Marshall used a kill each from Sullivan, Ross and Carlson during that span, along with a pair of assisted blocks by Sullivan and Yoho, and Marcum and Ross, respectively. Marcum added a service ace and Houston suffered six errors, to help give the Herd an 11-point cushion. The Cougars would climb to within seven at 23-16, but Layne Kehl (Mountain Top, Pa.) smashed a kill, and teamed with Sullivan on a block to seal the set and give Marshall 2-0 lead in the contest.
In addition to her 12 kills, Ross finished with a .579 hitting percentage (12K, 1E, 19TA), while Carlson ended the match with eight kills and a team-best 10 digs. Fleming added six digs in the match, while Taylor Tanner (Union, Ky.) made her presence felt on the floor with eight digs.
"Megan Carlson really had a nice match, she played really well," Jacobs stated. "Jalicia had a good match. I thought Liz Fleming ran the offense without predictability, which made for a tougher assignment for Houston, they weren't sure where we were going."
Marcum provided four kills, five digs and four assisted blocks, as Marshall out-blocked the Cougars, 8.0-5.0. Ross and Yoho chipped in three assisted blocks each and Sullivan finished with two assisted blocks, while Carlson added a solo. Fleming and Kehl added one assisted block apiece.
"I thought our middles did a much better job today defensively," Jacobs added. "To me that's the most exciting part of this match. Our middles played some good defense."
Houston was led offensively by Justine Farmer who drilled a match-high 13 kills. Nataliya Panova added nine kills in the losing effort.
Amanda Carson finished with a match-best 14 digs and Kelsey King handed out 28 helpers.
Marshall limited the Cougars to just a .093 hitting clip for the match, including a .000 mark in the final set.
"I'm excited for our girls, I'm excited for a win, and now we have two very tough matches on a very difficult road-trip next week."
Marshall returns to action, Friday, Oct. 17 for a C-USA showdown with UTEP. First serve is slated for 9:00 p.m. ET in El Paso, Texas. The Herd then travels to New Orleans, La. For a 2:00 p.m. ET tilt with Tulane, Sunday, Oct. 19.
Photos from today's contest can be viewed and purchased online at HerdZone.com.
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