Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
West Virginia
Volleyball Wins Thriller Over WVU, 3-2
9/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 12, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Marshall University's Jalicia Ross (Bank Village, Trinidad) blasted a team-best 16 kills and Taylor Tanner (Union, Ky.) notched a career-best 21 digs to lift the Thundering Herd to a thrilling 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-16, 15-9) victory over in-state rival West Virginia in Friday night's non-conference volleyball match.
With the win, Marshall improves to 5-3 overall and has won its last seven contests with West Virginia. The Mountaineers fall to 2-5 on the season with the loss.
"Our goal was to retain the golden ball," head coach Mitch Jacobs said following the win. "A glaring weakness for us is that we still haven't won a two-point set, but credit our women for hanging in there down 2-1. We played very well in set four, and we knew that if we could get that eighth point to switch sides in the fifth set we'd win the match."
With the match even at two sets apiece, Marshall took an 8-5 lead in the deciding set and scored five of the next seven to extend that lead to 13-7. Kills by Kristin Marcum (Arlington, Texas) and Emily Sullivan (Cincinnati, Ohio) sealed the set and match for the Herd.
In the first set, Marshall and West Virginia battled to 10 ties and a 14-14 score before the Mountaineers took a 16-14 lead. The Herd received three Ross kills and one by Marcum over the course of the next six points to post a 20-19 lead, before West Virginia knotted the frame at 20-20. A kill by Elizabeth Fleming (South Bend, Ind.) brought the stanza to yet another stalemate at 21-21. The teams tied for the 16th time at 22-22 before West Virginia scored three of the next four points to claim the set 25-23 and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Marshall got off to a fast start in the second frame, building an 8-4 advantage on the strength of a solo block by Elizabeth Herman (Dunwoody, Ga.), an assisted block by Ross and Marcum and a service ace by Carlson. West Virginia cut the lead to 8-6 before the Herd scored six of the next eight points to take a 14-8 lead capped by an assisted block from Layne Kehl (Mountain Top, Pa.) and Sullivan. The Mountaineers were able to claw back to bring the score to 16-12 before scoring five unanswered points to take a 17-16 lead. From there, Marshall used its own 7-1 run to extend its lead to 24-17, highlighted by an assisted block from Ross and Megan Carlson (Andover, Minn.), a Carlson kill three consecutive service aces by Carlson and an assisted block from Fleming and Ross. The set ended on a service error by West Virginia.
"Set two had to be one of the strangest sets in volleyball history," Jacobs said. "To out block and out ace the number of kills you have really says something about rally scoring."
With the match even at one set apiece, West Virginia opened up a 7-3 lead before a kills by Ross and Marcum brought the Herd to within two at 7-5. After battling to within one at 12-11, Marshall tied the frame with a Marcum kill. Marcum was able to break a 13-13 deadlock, before she teamed with Kehl on a block to extend the Herd lead to 15-13.
The Herd used a 4-1 run to increase its lead to 18-14 before five straight points gave West Virginia the lead back at 19-18. The Mountaineers then registered three of the next four points to take a 22-19 lead before a kill by Carlson and Ross got Marshall to within two at 23-21. Following a Mountaineer kill, Ross delivered again with a kill and then teamed with Marcum on a block to get to within one at 24-23, before a West Virginia kill sealed the set and a 2-1 edge in the contest.
Trailing 2-1 in the match, Marshall took a 13-9 lead in fourth frame and extended its lead to as many as six by posting a 17-11 lead before the Mountaineers cut it back to four at 18-14. Marshall scored five of the next seven points on the strength of kills from Fleming and Sullivan and a service ace by Fleming to bring the stanza to 23-16. The Herd then took the set and tied the contest on a West Virginia attacking error and a Marcum service ace.
Ross finished with a .615 hitting percentage, totaling 16 kills on 26 attempts with no errors in the win. Marcum finished with 13 kills and 14 digs, while Sullivan notched 11 kills on the night. Carlson chipped in with 16 digs while Fleming handed out 45 assists and recorded 10 digs.
"I thought holding West Virginia to negatives was huge for our defense because it's something we've been working hard on," Jacobs stated. "Overall it was an excellent match. I thought Carlson was our best defensive player, and Taylor stepped up in a huge way. She has been nothing but a team player ever since she got here."
The Herd out blocked the Mountaineers 12.0-1.0 in addition to collecting 11 service aces (including five from Carlson) in the winning effort.
Marshall returns to action Tuesday, Sept. 16 when it travels to Oxford, Ohio for a non-conference clash with Miami (Ohio). Match-time is slated for 6:00 p.m.
