Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Virginia Tech
Volleyball Powers Past Virginia Tech In Comeback Win, 3-2
9/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 5, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall University's Kristin Marcum (Arlington, Texas), Emily Sullivan (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Jalicia Ross (Bank Village, Trinidad), each notched 13 kills in the Thundering Herd's come-from-behind 3-2 (25-17, 23-25, 19-25, 25-17, 15-11) win in Friday night's non-conference volleyball match at the Cam Henderson Center.
With the win, Marshall is now 3-1 overall, while Virginia Tech falls to 3-1 on the season.
"We beat a very good Virginia Tech team," head coach Mitch Jacobs said following the victory. "It was fun to watch."
With the match knotted 2-2, Virginia Tech jumped out to an early 3-1 lead before a kill by Sullivan and a kill by Elizabeth Fleming (South Bend, Ind.) evened the set at 3-3. From there the teams tied six more times before Marshall opened up a 12-9 lead. The Hokies would score twice more in the contest, but a pair of attacking errors and a service error sealed the match for the Herd.
"You hate to see a match end like that," Jacobs said. "But I did think our team deserved to win the match the way we played in sets four and five."
In the opening stanza, Marshall cruised to an 18-10 lead, and used a pair of Marcum kills and one each from Megan Carlson (Andover, Minn.), Layne Kehl (Mountain Top, Pa.) and Sullivan to seal a 25-17 victory and 1-0 advantage.
The second frame saw 10 lead changes and two lead changes before the Hokies forced two Marshall attacking errors to win the second set. Marcum earned four kills in the set but Virginia Tech's Taylor Parrish drove down 10 kills en route to the win.
"Other than in set two, there wasn't a time when both teams played really well at the same time," Jacobs stated. "So it's hard to judge what we're going to do."
The teams again battled to 10 lead changes and a 16-16 tie, before Virginia Tech scored seven straight, and seven of the next 12 to extend its advantage to 2-1 in the match.
"We kept pressing and we got more aggressive in the third set," Jacobs added. "The errors were aggressive errors which is how a young team needs to play."
In set four, Ross and Elizabeth Herman (Dunwoody, Ga.) registered five and four kills apiece to lift the Herd to a convincing 25-17 win and even the match at two sets apiece.
"It was great to see the poise and breakthrough in game four," Jacobs said.
In addition to the 13 kills from Marcum, Sullivan and Ross, Carlson finished with seven, while Herman added five. Jessica Dhoore (LaPorte, Ind.) dug 13 balls while Marcum and Sullivan each contributed nine digs on the night. Taylor Tanner (Union, Ky.), and fleming chipped in with eight digs each. Fleming also added 40 assists on the night.
"Jalicia and Kristin played real well tonight, and Herman really stepped up in the fourth and fifth sets, and Taylor really ignited the defense and made a big difference defensively in the match," Jacobs added.
The Hokies were led by Parrish who totaled a match-high 16 kills and Jill Gergen who earned match-best 18 digs in the losing effort.
Marshall returns to action Saturday, Sept. 6 when it hosts ETSU (2-2) at 1:00 p.m. and Western Kentucky at 7:00 p.m. at the Cam Henderson Center.
