Marshall University Athletics
Volleyball Ready to Take on Tulsa and SMU
10/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2011
HUNTINGTON, W.VA. - Volleyball starts this week's competition off by traveling to the No.21 ranked Tulsa for a match on Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. ET. The Herd will travel back to Huntington, W.Va. to round up the weekend with a match against SMU on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Tulsa (17-5, 8-1 C-USA) sits at the top spot in Conference USA after beating UAB last weekend, who was unbeaten in conference play at the time. The Hurricane have won 11 of their past 12 matches, with their last loss coming to SMU in four sets on Oct. 5. The 2010 Conference USA champions currently lead the league in kills and assists and are led by junior, Tyler Henderson, who records a conference-high 384 kills and a 4.92 kills per set average.
Southern Methodist (8-13, 4-5 C-USA) currently holds onto one more league win in conference play over Marshall, so a victory over the Mustangs would push the Herd ahead of SMU in conference standings. SMU is led by senior libero, Sidney Stewart, who became the first player in program history to record more than 2,000 career digs and just the fourth player in league history to do so. Stewart tallied 43 on the weekend, including 27 at UAB Sunday, to surpass the milestone. She now has 2,008 career digs.
This past weekend Marshall (4-15, 3-6 C-USA) split matches against Tulane and Southern Miss. Last Friday showcased a 3-1 (27-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-23) over the Green Wave, but the Herd followed with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-23) loss to the Golden Eagles on Sunday. Marshall currently stands at tenth in the conference, but two wins this weekend could move the Herd all the way into fifth place.
Marshall will be looking for another big performance from Desirre Wilkerson, who tallied 14 blocks (1 solo, 13 assists) in last weekend's matches. She leads the teams in blocks with 6 (11 solo, 52 assits). The Herd will also be welcoming back outside hitter Laura Der, who returned to the court for the first time this past weekend after being forced to sit out due to injury since Sep. 17.
The Herd is led in kills by Cameron Yoho with 188 and she is closely followed by Abby Tomas with 183. Setter, Sammie Bane, has recorded six double-doubles on the year and tallies 594 assists. Ryanne Milligan goes into the weekend with the most digs at 214 and Dorothy Rahal racks up 150.
Both matches can be followed on GameTracker via www.HerdZone.com and the SMU match will be available through WMUL online radio at www.marshall.edu/WMUL.
