Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Tulane
Volleyball Surges Past Tulane, 3-1
10/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 14, 2011
NEW ORLEANS, LA. - Thundering Herd volleyball grabbed a much needed conference win Friday night against Tulane to help push themselves back into the conference mix. Marshall finished with two clutch extra point wins in the first and third set to knock off the Green Wave 3-1 (27-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-23).
Marshall moves to 4-14 and 3-5 in Conference USA with the victory and Tulane falls to 6-12 and 1-6 in C-USA play.
The first game set the tone for the competitive finishes each set would take as both squads stayed within one point of each other for the majority of the set. Cameron Yoho earned six of her 15 kills in the game to help push the Herd to a 27-25 win.
The second set was the strongest offensive performance for Tulane and their only win in the match. The Green Wave had 16 kills in the set, compared to Marshall's 12 and topped the Herd 25-19 to tie the match 1-1.
With the match tied, Marshall fought back from at seven point deficit early in the third set to tie the game 25-25. Sammie Bane set up Desirre Wilkerson for a kill to push the Herd ahead by one and Marshall forced Tulane to commit an attack error on the final point to win the set 27-25.
Riding the momentum, Marshall pulled ahead to a substantial 16-9 lead in the middle of the fourth set. Tulane fought back to make things interesting in the end but a five kill performance from Yoho and solid defense helped Marshall earn a 25-23 win.
"The best thing about tonight was our defense," noted Coach Jacobs after the match. "It was very strong tonight. We kept the ball off the floor and blocked enough balls to give Tulane a difficult time. We made them have a lot of unforced errors, which gave us the ability to win the match."
At the net, Marshall combined for a season-high 13.0 blocks (4 solo, 18 assists). Abby Tomas tied her career high of six blocks (1 solo, 5 assists) and Wilkerson set a new career high tally with a team-best eight blocks (1 solo, 7 assists). Ryanne Milligan had a big night on defense as well with 20 digs. She totals 204 digs for the season.
On the offensive side, Yoho led the team in kills with 15 and Wilkerson marked the second-most kills in her career with 10. Tomas finished with eight kills and Sacha Byous-McConnell recorded seven. A healthy Laura Der returned to the court tonight after being forced to sit out the last four matches due to injury. She finished the match with nine kills, three blocks (1 solo, 2 assists) and led the team in service aces with two.
"Abby Tomas had the best defensive night of her career. She really set the block up tonight and took out their right side hitter. Desirre Wilkerson had a great night at the net as well. She had a couple of big blocks in the middle. Laura Der really stepped in and had block touches and helped give us stability."
Marshall will be on the road again this Sunday as they face Southern Miss at 12:00 p.m. The match will available through GameTracker at this .
