Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
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UTEP
Volleyball Edged by UTEP, 3-1
10/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 9, 2010
EL PASO, Texas - The Marshall University volleyball team split the first two sets with UTEP, but the Miners captured the next to frames to defeat the Thundering Herd, 3-1 (14-25, 25-17, 18-25, 23-25) on Saturday afternoon in Conference USA action at Memorial Gym.
Marshall (9-9, 3-3 C-USA) recorded three players with double-digit kill performances in Sacha Byous-McConnell, Laura Der and Abby Tomas. Byous-McConnell recorded a team-high 11 spikes, while Der and Tomas posted 10 kills each. Tomas hit an efficient .348 (10K-2E-23TA) in the loss.
Elizabeth Fleming filled up the score sheet with 35 assists, seven digs and five blocks for the Herd, while Ryanne Milligan and Der topped the team with nine digs.
"UTEP played really well and at least today we started to push back," head coach Mitch Jacobs said. "But we allowed are momentum to slip away in the middle of game three. By the time we got it back in the fourth set it made for a good finish, we just came up short."
Bridget Logan led UTEP (12-7, 4-2 C-USA) with 17 kills on 35 swings for a .429 hitting clip. The Miners tallied 18 blocks as a squad, the most in match against Marshall this season. Leading the way defensively was middle blocker Cassandra Burruel, who posted a match-high 10 total blocks.
After dropping the first set 25-14, the Herd evened the match with an impressive 25-17 win in the second stanza. In the second set, MU jumped out to a 10-3 advantage and never looked back.
The Miners captured set three (25-18) setting up an aggressively played fourth frame. UTEP appeared to be in control, holding an early 9-4 cushion. The Herd clawed its way back into the game and finally evened the score at 18-all thanks to a UTEP attacking error. MU took its first lead of the frame after Kelley Bugler connected for a kill and a UTEP ball handling error gave the Herd a 23-22 advantage. After a timeout by the Miners, the home squad turned right around and scored the next three points to take the set and the match.
"With the best two teams in the league coming in this weekend we really need to recognize that our season is weighing on the balance," Jacobs said. "Our team needs to play with a sense of urgency and right now our lack of it is killing us."
Marshall hosts Tulsa on Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Cam Henderson Center.
