Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Southern Miss
Southern Miss Sweeps the Herd, 3-0
10/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2011
HATTIESBURG, MISS. - The Marshall volleyball team came into Sunday's match riding the momentum of a conference win against Tulane on Friday, but Southern Miss popped the bubble with a 3-0 (25-16,25-17, 25-23) sweep of the Thundering Herd.
Marshall dropped to 4-15 (3-6 C-USA) with the loss and USM moved to 9-11 (3-5 C-USA).
Head Coach Jacobs summed up the loss after the match, saying, "We looked very unprepared in the first two sets. Obviously I need to take full blame for that as preparation is on the coaches' end. Southern Miss is the most experienced team in the league and it showed every time we pressed them, they were able to stay confident and respond."
The Golden Eagles pressed hard early and never relinquished their lead for the entirety of the first set. They used a match-high .366 (17 k, 2 E, 41 TA) team attack percentage to put away the Herd 25-16.
The second set mirrored the first, as the Herd was never able to establish a lead. USM held Marshall to only 11 kills and forced nine attack errors, which held the Herd to close to a five percent attack average. The USM effort led to a 25-17 win in the second set.
Marshall never gave up despite being down two sets, and fought hard to get back into the match in the third set. The Herd had 4.0 (1 solo, 6 assists) blocks at the net and improved their attack percentage to .237 (14 k, 5 E, 38 TA), but USM had strong performances from Halie Ecker (5 kills) and Ashley Mell (5 kills) to clench the game in a tight 25-23 finish.
"I thought we would play with more spirit today after such a tough win on Friday, but again I was wrong," said Jacobs. "We need to find a way to leave it all on the floor and not just talk about leaving it on the floor. Today's bright spot was definitely our serve receive and defense."
Marshall had a clean slate in serve receptions and didn't record any errors in the category. The Herd totaled 48 digs on defense and was led by Ryanne Milligan with 10.
Laura Der continued to show that she was healthy after an injury that kept her benched for four matches and collected nine digs.
Desirre Wilkerson again showed a powerful presence at the net and posted six blocks (6 assists). She also had six kills and a team-leading .267 attack percentage (6 K, 2 E, 15 TA). At the end of the weekend, Wilkerson had recorded 14 blocks (1 solo, 13 assists).
Offensively, Cameron Yoho led the team in kills with 10. At the weekend's end, she led the team in kills with 25 and a 3.57 kills per set average. Abby Tomas added nine kills to the total for the USM match and Laura Der had eight hammers. Sammie Bane finished with 31 assists.
The Herd will split being on the road and at Cam Henderson this upcoming week. The Herd travels to Tulsa for a Thursday night match at 7:00 p.m. ET and return home for a match against SMU on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. ET. Both games will be available through GameTracker at www.HerdZone.com and the SMU competition will be available through WMUL's online radio at www.marshall.edu/WMUL.
