Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Lipscomb
Volleyball Blasts Past Lipscomb Bison, 3-1
9/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 18, 2010
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Elizabeth Herman, Abby Tomas and Cameron Yoho spearheaded the Marshall University volleyball team, combining for 42 kills, as the Thundering Herd defeated Lipscomb 3-1 (15-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-18) on Saturday evening at the Chaifetz Pavilion.
"This was as big an out of conference weekend we've had since I've coached here," head coach Mitch Jacobs said. "People hear Lipscomb and Western Kentucky and don't realize that we just knocked off two teams in the top-40 RPI entering the weekend."
Tomas posted a career-high 18 kills and added three digs and two block assists to propel the Herd to 6-6 on the season. The Aledo, Texas, native hit at a team-best .412 clip (18K-4E-34TA) to help MU earn its second win at the Billiken Invitational.
"Abby played the best she has all season over the weekend," Jacobs said. "She showed great patience when things weren't perfect and responded positively."
Lipscomb dropped to 9-5 on the season.
Herman and Yoho each punched 12 kills and three block assists a piece on the box score. Yoho registered a .400 hitting clip (12K-2E-25TA), while just missing her career-best of 13 spikes.
"Cameron and [Kelley] Bugler were very strong in both night matches during the weekend," Jacobs said. "Bugler's numbers might not have shown it tonight but we matched her up against an All-American middle blocker and she was great on keeping her to a .081 hitting percentage.
"Cameron was fantastic offensively down the stretch of game three and game four," Jacobs said. "Again, this was such a big weekend for us."
From the setter position, Elizabeth Fleming dished out 42 helpers and added five digs and four kills to her stat line.
Defensively, a trio of players reached double figures in digs. Libero Dorothy Rahal led the squad with 17 digs, while Laura Der and Ryanne Milligan added 15 and 10, respectively.
After struggling in the opening set, compiling just a .080 hitting attack (8K-6E-25TA), the Herd responded by taking the next three frames to claim the victory.
MU and Lipscomb were tied at 7-all, but after a pair of attacking errors by the Bison, sandwiched around a Yoho kill, gave the Herd a 10-7 advantage. The Herd would not relinquish the lead the rest of the frame as Fleming and Herman tallied consecutive kills to close out the stanza, 25-19.
The third frame was an equal battle between both teams, as 15 ties took place bringing the score even at 21-21. After a Lipscomb attacking error, Tomas collected a spike prior to Yoho knocking down a pair of kills to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The score was tied at 7-all in the fourth set before Yoho connected on a kill to take a one-point cushion. Tomas followed by lacing three-straight spikes to take an 11-7 lead and cruise the rest of the evening to earn the set (25-18) and the match against the Bison.
Marshall is off until Thurs., Sept. 23 when the Herd opens up Conference USA play against the UCF Knights at 7 p.m. inside the Cam Henderson Center.
