Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Tulsa
Tulsa Outlasts Volleyball, 3-1
10/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University's Emily Sullivan (Cincinnati, Ohio) blasted a team-best 17 kills, but Tulsa received a match-high 27-kill performance from Jennifer Eichler to help lift the Golden Hurricane to a 3-1 (20-25, 28-26, 25-27, 22-25) victory over the Thundering Herd in Sunday afternoon's Conference USA volleyball match at the Cam Henderson Center.
With the loss, Marshall slips to 10-11 overall, 3-8 in C-USA, while Tulsa takes a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series, and improves to 20-6 on the season, 7-4 in league action.
With Tulsa clinging to a 2-1 lead in the contest, the teams played to eight ties, four lead changes and a 13-13 score before the Golden Hurricane used an 8-2 run to push its lead to 21-15. Marshall then used a kill apiece from Jalicia Ross (Bank Village, Trinidad), Elizabeth Herman (Dunwoody, Ga.), and Elizabeth Fleming (South Bend, Ind.), along with a pair of Tulsa errors, to string together five consecutive points and cut its deficit to one at 21-20. Beth Hodge and Eichler each delivered a kill to send the set to 23-20, before Ross smashed her 11th kill of the afternoon to bring the score to 23-21. Eichler sent the frame to match point with her 26th kill of the match, before Layne Kehl (Mountain Top, Pa.) answered for the Herd with a kill of her own, shrinking the lead back to two at 24-22. From there, Eichler sealed the set and match for the Golden Hurricane with her 27th kill of the day.
"It was great to see our players play hard this afternoon," head coach Mitch Jacobs said following the match. "Tulsa is a very good team, but it was nice to see our team come out and play hard. Hopefully we'll have a good week of practice and continue to play hard next weekend."
In the opening stanza, Tulsa established a 20-14 lead before three straight points, highlighted by Fleming and Megan Carlson (Andover, Minn.) kills brought the Herd to within three at 20-17. The Golden Hurricane maintained its three point cushion and with the score set at 22-19, Ross smashed a kill to bring Marshall to within two at 22-20. From there, Tulsa used a kill by Eichler, Kelsey Hancock, and a Herd attacking error, to take the set and post a 1-0 lead in the contest.
In the second frame, the sides battled back and forth until Marshall posted a 20-16 lead and raised that to a five point lead at 22-17 before Tulsa responded with five consecutive points to knot the set at 22-22. The teams would play to four more ties and a 26-26 deadlock before Sullivan and a Golden Hurricane attacking error allowed the Herd to claim a thrilling second set, 28-26, evening the match at 1-1.
Tulsa jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the third set, before Marshall scored five of the next seven points to cut the lead to two. Tulsa extended its edge to three at 10-7, and following a kill by Carlson to cut the gap back to two, neither team enjoyed more than a two-point advantage for the rest of the frame. The teams played to nine ties, six lead changes and a 25-25 stalemate, before Hannah Stout and Rachel Vukson downed a kill each to give Tulsa a 2-1 lead in the match.
Ross and Herman joined Sullivan with double-digit kills for the Herd, recording 11 kills apiece. Fleming guided the Marshall offense with 46 assists in addition to eight kills and eight digs.
Taylor Tanner (Union, Ky.) led the Herd floor defense with an 18-dig effort, while Carlson chipped in with 17 digs in the losing effort. Jessica Dhoore (LaPorte, Ind.) also reached double-digits with 10 digs in the match. Hodge added 16 kills and 12 digs in the match to help Eichler, who registered a .471 hitting percentage, pace Tulsa's offense. Vukson added 51 assists and 15 digs in the winning effort, while Malorey Grove anchored the Golden Hurricane defensive effort with a match-high 19 digs. Hancock and Stout added seven kills for Tulsa.
Marshall takes to the road for the final time during the regular season when it takes on C-USA rivals Memphis and UAB. The Herd will square off against the Tigers, Friday, Oct. 31 at 8:00 p.m. ET, and will take on the Blazers, Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
GameTracker for each match will be provided on HerdZone.com.
Photos from today's contest against Tulsa, and all of Marshall's 2008 home matches, can be viewed and purchased on HerdZone.com.
