Marshall University Athletics
Volleyball Set For Final Road-Trip of Regular Season
10/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 29, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University volleyball squad will take to the road for the final time during Conference USA regular season play, when it travels to Memphis, Friday, Oct. 31 and UAB, Sunday, Nov. 2. Friday's match is slated for an 8:00 p.m. ET start, while first-serve for Sunday's contest will be at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Marshall (10-11 overall, 3-8 C-USA) heads into weekend action looking to snap a three-game losing skid and earn a season sweep of Memphis (15-10, 6-5 C-USA) and build on its 6-1 all-time series lead over the Tigers. The Thundering Herd took a 3-1 decision from Memphis on Sept. 26 for its first league win of the 2008 campaign. In that contest, Elizabeth Herman (Dunwoody, Ga.) led the offensive charge, blasting a match-high 15 kills. Emily Sullivan (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Jalicia Ross (Bank Village, Trinidad) also downed double-digit kills, with 13 and 11 respectively. Kristin Marcum (Arlington, Texas) paced the Marshall floor-defense with a career-high and match-best 23-dig effort, while Elizabeth Fleming (South Bend, Ind.) chipped in eight digs in addition to handing out a match-high 42 assists.
Katlin Inglish led the Tigers offense with 10 kills, while Christine Bach led the team with 12 digs. Laura Cote distributed 30 assists while Carolyn Baker assisted on five blocks to lead Memphis in the losing effort earlier this season. Memphis has won three of its last four contests including 3-2 decision over UCF and a 3-1 win over Southern Miss last weekend. Emily Underwood led the offensive attack in each of those matches, delivering a match-high 21 and 15 kills respectively. Lauren Thompson added 13 kills in each match while Inglish contributed 14 against the Golden Eagles.
Ross enters weekend competition atop the C-USA leader-board with a .438 hitting percentage (220K, 41E, 409TA) and is now ranked fifth in the nation in the category. Fleming is ranked third in the league with 10.85 assists per set, and her 857 total assists places her fifth among C-USA setters. Fleming has accumulated 2,499 assists for her career and is now ranked third on Marshall's all-time assists list. Rounding out Marshall's league leaders is Megan Carlson (Andover, Minn.), whose 27 service aces (0.34 per set average) ranks her fourth in C-USA.
Memphis' Underwood leads C-USA with 155.0 total blocks (18 solo, 137 assisted), while Bach ranks second in service aces with 38. Bach also has a 4.58 digs per set average (and a league-high 453 total digs) which is good enough for second among C-USA liberos. Cote leads the conference with 1,021 total assists, while her 10.31 assists per set places her fifth in that category.
Marshall continues conference action, Sunday against UAB. The Blazers enter Friday's match against East Carolina with a 20-3 overall record, and are 10-1 in C-USA. UAB has won 14 of its last 15 decisions, with its only league blemish, a 3-1 loss to Memphis on Sept. 18. The Blazers, ranked first in the conference, took a hard-fought 3-2 decision from Marshall in the first meeting between the teams on Sept. 28 in Huntington. The Herd owns a 4-3 series lead over UAB dating back to 2005 and will look to even this year's season series, Sunday.
GameTracker will be provided by visiting HerdZone.com.
Photos from home volleyball matches during the 2008 season can be viewed and purchased by visiting HerdZone.com.
