Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
East Carolina
Volleyball Wins Conference Opener against East Carolina, 3-1
9/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2011
HUNTINGTON, W.VA. - The first home match of the season proved to be gripping win over Conference USA rivals, East Carolina. The Herd opened up the Thunder Invitational with a 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-15) victory over the Pirates and look to continue their success tomorrow against George Mason at 12:30 p.m. and Central Michigan at 7:30 p.m.
With the victory, Marshall moves to 2-7 (1-0 C-USA) on the season and East Carolina drops to 2-6 (0-1 C-USA).
"It was great to see us start playing as well as we can practice," noted Coach Jacobs after the victory. "We went out in the first set and played tentative again and not to lose. We got after them after that and we got after the match."
Laura Der led the team with a double-double performance, tallying a team-high 15 kills and 18 digs. She also recorded a .355 attack average. Sacha Byous-McConnel boasted a team-leading .500 (11K, 1E, 20TA) in the attack average category and finished with 3 blocks (2 solo, 1 assist). Sammie Bane earned 37 assists at the setter spot and also shared the top spot in service aces with Cameron Yoho, after having 2 aces a piece. Ryanne Milligan finished with 16 digs at the libero on the defensive side of the court.
"It was great to get Laura Der back on the front row," said Jacobs. "I thought Ryanne did a nice job at the libero role. Sammie Bane was fantastic at the setter job tonight. She is getting stronger and stronger. Sacha also stepped up. We didn't block a lot of balls tonight, but we got a lot of block touches and we certainly played some solid floor defense. We just have to keep pushing forward. We have two tough matches tomorrow and we just have to see what we can do."
The Herd never looked back after dropping the first set to the Pirates. Marshall turned the tide after beating ECU in the second set, 25-17, and rocked a .567 team attack average in the third set to finish the Pirates off 25-14. The fourth set sealed the win after finishing 25-15. The winning effort breaks a three game losing streak and puts the Herd in the top tier of the conference.
Marshall closes out the tournament tomorrow with the George Mason and Central Michigan matches. Both matches can be followed on LiveStats at, http://herdzone.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/2011-thunder-invitational.html.
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