Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Southern Miss
Volleyball Sweeps Past Southern Miss
11/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 21, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University volleyball team fell behind in the first two sets of the afternoon against Southern Miss, but rallied to claim each stanza en route to a three-game sweep of the Golden Eagles, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17) on Sunday at the Cam Henderson Center.
Marshall (11-19, 5-13 C-USA) featured three players with double-figure kill outings in Kaitlin Holm (13), Abby Tomas (11) and Kelley Bugler (10). Bugler, a senior, registered a team-best .412 hitting percentage as she put away her 10 kills on 17 swings with just three miscues. She added three block assists and a solo block to the box score.
Orchestrating the offense was Elizabeth Fleming, who dished out a match-high 39 assists to pace the Herd offense. Fleming added 11 digs to record her 14th double-double of the season.
The trio of Ryanne Milligan, Dorothy Rahal and Laura Der combine for 45 digs to guide the defense to a split of the season series with the Golden Eagles.
"We hit spots in our service game and our defense was great tonight," head coach Mitch Jacobs said. "I thought our defense and ball control kept us in it and offensively we kept getting stronger as the match went on."
Southern Miss (19-11, 12-7 C-USA) was led by Laura Sears, who connected for 11 kills on 23 attacks with no errors for a .478 hitting clip. Lisa Knecht recorded a match-high 29 digs in the loss.
"Their (Southern Miss) strengths are passing and defense and they have a couple kids that can really hit the ball. Down at their place for two sets we served brilliantly and we served a lot of short balls against them this season," Jacobs said. "We tried to limit the approach distance for #28 (Ashley Mell), by keeping them out of system. She is one of best attackers in the league."
In the opening frame, MU fell behind as many as seven points, 18-11, but utilized a 11-4 run which included three kills from Bugler to even the score at 22-all. Holm slammed home consecutive kills, set up by Fleming, before Cameron Yoho tallied a kill to help the claim the set, 25-22.
Trailing 12-5 to USM in the second stanza, the Herd rallied again to bring the frame square at 15-15 after consecutive attacking errors from the Golden Eagles. Leading 23-22, Laura Der and Yoho each posted a kill a piece to take a commanding 2-0 match lead into intermission.
The Herd offense continued to click on all cylinders, this frame from start to finish as the home squad posted a .419 hitting percentage in the set and cruised to a 25-17 win to take the match.
"Let's be happy we got the win. We are going to continue to get better and I'm proud of the team tonight," Jacobs said.
UP NEXT: Marshall travels to Greenville, N.C. to take on East Carolina at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 24.
