Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Southern Miss
Volleyball Edges Southern Miss
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2009
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University volleyball team received two crucial blocks in the fourth set to help the team defeat Southern Miss, 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 15-25, 26-24) in a Conference USA match on Friday night at the Cam Henderson Center.
The score was knotted at 24-all in the fourth set, with MU leading the match 2-1 in games, when Cameron Yoho and Kristin Marcum teamed up to block a USM attack attempt by Caitlin Clarke to take a one point lead and force a timeout from the Golden Eagles. After the stoppage of play, Elizabeth Herman and Yoho blocked another attack by USM to avoid a fifth set and to earn the victory.
"It could have gone any way when it was 24-all," head coach Mitch Jacobs stated. "The points were going back-and-forth. Cameron Yoho has worked so hard on her blocking and it hasn't always paid off. Tonight it did for her. She got those last two that won the match for us."
MU has now won four-straight matches, including three at home to own a 14-2 overall record, 2-0 in C-USA play. The Golden Eagles suffered their first conference loss of the season and now stand at 13-3, 1-1 C-USA.
The Herd took a 2-0 advantage heading into third set of the match. In the first set, Katy Schad connected for six of her 11 kills on the night. MU led 12-6 after Herman connected for a kill to make USM call a timeout, trailing 12-6. The Golden Eagles fought their way back into the game, cutting the deficit to two points, 18-16. Following a MU timeout, the Herd went on a 7-2 spurt to win the first set.
Momentum followed the Herd into the second set as the team hit at a .379 (14K-3E-29TA) attacking clip. Elizabeth Fleming dished out 12 assists in the frame in a 25-19 win.
That momentum would shift its course, in favor of the Golden Eagles in the third stanza. The Herd struggled on the offensive side, tallying 10 kills on 37 attempts with nine errors (.027 attacking percentage) and USM took advantage. MU fell behind 10-3, which would later turn into 20-8 lead in favor of the visitors. The Herd was able to outscore USM 7-5 the rest of the set, even though the game was forced into a fourth frame.
The fourth and final set featured 19 ties and plenty of intensity. After an attack error by the Herd put USM up 22-20, Jacobs called a timeout. The Herd spun right around and scored two straight points, to knot the score at 22-all, forcing the Golden Eagles into a timeout.
The score would even up again at 23 and 24, before back-to-back blocks by the Herd helped secure the win of the set and the match.
"We knew we were going to have to match their emotion and we didn't, bottom line," Jacobs stated. "Once the emotion played its way out it was a pretty even game. I think we are two evenly-matched teams that each had runs here and there. Those runs created the difference in each game. In game four I don't know if the lead ever got more than one point on more than two occassions. We kept going, kept working and we are happy with tonight's results."
Emily Sullivan totaled 14 kills on 22 attempts with just three errors for an impressive .500 attacking percentage. She added five digs, three block assists and a pair of service aces.
Classmate Kristin Marcum just missed a double-double, with nine kills and a team-best 14 digs.
Herman and Fleming each marked up the stat sheet. Herman tallying 10 kills, four digs and four block assists, while Fleming added a match-best 42 assists, eight digs and two block assits.
Yoho, who was a part of the two most important blocks of the night, registered a total of two block solos and three block assists and added five kills. Schad ended the night with 11 kills and eight digs for the Herd.
"I thought we were falling in love with our offense," Jacobs said. "We were scoring difficult points, but they were coming back and scoring them too. We got our blocks going and we're a good defensive team. We are slowly starting to penetrate the net, and if we continue to do that we can be successful. "
The Golden Eagles received double-doubles from Ashley Mell and Kelsea Seymour. Mell had 11 kills and a match-best 19 digs, while Seymour tallied 37 assists and 10 digs.
MU returns to the court with a match against C-USA opponent UCF on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Cam Henderson Center. Game Tracker will be available by logging onto www.herdzone.com and the match will be televised on CBS College Sports.
