Marshall University Athletics
Volleyball Gallops Past UCF, 3-2
11/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 7, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University senior Jalicia Ross (Bank Village, Trinidad) blasted 19 kills and added nine total blocks to help pace the Thundering Herd to a thrilling 3-2 (23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 28-26, 15-9) victory in Friday night's Conference USA volleyball match at the Cam Henderson Center.
With the win, Marshall snaps a five-match losing skid and improves to 11-13 overall, 4-10 in league play. UCF slips to 14-14 on the season and 7-7 in conference action. The win evens the season series at 1-1 and the Herd now leads the all-time series 9-2.
After roaring back to even the match 2-2, the sides battled to five ties in the deciding set before Marshall opened up an 11-6 advantage on the strength of three Ross kills. Stephanie Serna downed a kill to stop the 6-1 run, but Ross drilled her final kill of the night to put the Herd up 12-7. From there, Marshall scored three of the next five points, capped by a kill each from Layne Kehl (Mountain Top, Pa.) and Emily Sullivan (Cincinnati, Ohio) to seal the set and the match.
"The team played with great energy tonight and refused to quit," head coach Mitch Jacobs said following the hard-fought match. "Tonight was Jalicia's most dominating defensive performance in her career. I'm very proud of her tonight for stepping up so big. This was a complete team effort with everyone having some big moments, but you have to really give credit to Megan Carlson for accepting the Libero roll and absolutely dominating the back line at some very big moments tonight."
In the opening set, the teams fought to eight deadlocks and four lead changes and a 23-23 score, before UCF claimed the set following a Herd attacking error and a Serna kill.
The second set resembled much of the first as the teams reached stalemates and swapped the lead three times before the score was set at 22-22. Marshall evened the contest at 1-1 after Elizabeth Fleming (South Bend, Ind.), Kristin Marcum (Arlington, Texas) and Ross blasted a kill apiece to give the Herd a 25-22 second stanza victory.
In the third frame, UCF broke out to a 15-10 lead before a kill by Sullivan, a Knights' attacking error and two kills from Kehl brought Marshall to within one at 15-14. From there, UCF was able to push its lead to 19-16, before a 3-1 run, highlighted by Ross kill and a service ace from Megan Carlson (Andover, Minn.) saw the lead shrink to one at 20-19. UCF then used a 3-1 run of its own to forge a 23-20 edge before Sullivan blasted a kill to bring the score to 23-21. Lauren Williams extended the lead back to three with a kill, before Sullivan downed a ball to cut the deficit back to two. A Marshall service error allowed UCF to earn a 25-22 victory and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set featured an intense back-and-forth showing, as the teams tied 9 times before UCF took a 24-22 edge. From Elizabeth Herman (Dunwoody, Ga.) and Sullivan each blasted kills to stave off match-point and knot the set at 24-24. Serna blasted a kill to put the Knights back in position to win, but a service error evened the stanza at 25-25. Sullivan then blasted a kill to give Marshall set-point but Williams returned the favor and sent the set into its 12th tie. Marcum then blasted a kill, and an attacking error by UCF allowed Marshall to win the thrilling fourth frame and even the contest at 2-2. "Emily played very strong for us on the offensive end," Jacobs added. " Tonight started slow for both outside hitters, but Liz Herman and Kristin Marcum were able to settle down and come up with a lot of very good swings for us as well."
Sullivan finished tied for the team high in kills with 19 on 36 swings for a hitting percentage of .417, while Herman added 14 kills and Marcum 12. Fleming chipped in seven kills while handing out a match-best 58 assists, while Kehl downed five kills and added a pair of assisted blocks.
"Liz ran a very diverse offense as well, mixing in many combination plays that really kept UCF's block off balance," Jacobs stated.
Carlson led the way defensively, collecting a career-high and match-best 29 digs. Marcum recorded 13 digs to complete her double-double, while Fleming and Jessica Dhoore (LaPorte, Ind.) added 10 digs apiece.
Serna led the UCF attack, picking up a match-best 20 kills while Williams finished with 11. Kathleen Curry dug a team-best 20 balls, while Lauren Rosenthal and Janine Williams added 16 and 12 digs respectively.
Marshall out-blocked the Knights 13-6, highlighted by Ross' 11 total-block effort. The senior assisted on nine stuffs, while adding a pair of solos. Herman and Marcum finished with four assisted blocks each while Fleming added three assisted blocks.
Marshall returns to C-USA action, Sunday, Nov. 9 in a showdown with Southern Miss. Match-time is slated for 12:00 p.m. at the Henderson Center and admission is free.
