Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Central Michigan
Volleyball Concludes Thunder Invitational
9/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 17, 2011
HUNTINGTON, W.VA.- The Thundering Herd Volleyball program ended the Thunder Invitational with two losses after taking George Mason to four sets (1-3: 19-25, 25-23, 23-25, 20-25) and dropping the match to Central Michigan in straight sets (0-3: 21-25, 22-25, 22-25).
Marshall falls to 2-9 for the 2011 season, but is unbeaten in conference play after defeating East Carolina last night, 3-1. Central Michigan takes home the tournament title after going 3-0 on the weekend and improves to 7-4 overall. George Mason finished with two wins during the tournament and improves to a 5-7 record.
Following the tournament, Marshall's junior libero, Ryanne Milligan, was named to the All-Tournament team. She finished the weekend with 29 digs on defense.
"Ryanne did a solid job at the libero role," commented Coach Jacobs on Milligan. "She didn't put up any stellar numbers in terms of digging the ball, but she passed the ball well all weekend. She quarterbacked the defense in terms of what defense we're in, what we need to do and where we are blocking. We felt that her stepping up in a role that got everybody focused on every play was enough. She is really the only one who did her job very well in all three matches this weekend. So we are very proud of her."
The Herd started the morning against George Mason. After dropping the first set, Abby Tomas helped the team rebound with a win in set two after recording seven kills during the set. Tomas repeated her effort in the third set with seven kills and was helped by Sacha Byous-McConnell as well with five kills, but it wasn't enough as the Patriots edged out Marshall 25-23 at the end of the set. GMU used the momentum to take home the final set and win 3-1 overall.
Despite the loss, Marshall had a chance to split the tournament title in a three-way tie with a win over Central Michigan, but the Chippewas continued to showcase the dominance they had displayed all tournament and knocked off the Herd in three-straight sets.
"It's very frustrating to play as hard as we did play and not be playing that hard every night and in every match," noted Jacobs after the CMU match. "But when we play that hard, it's fun to coach and it's just unfortunate that we had too many unforced errors at critical times. We have to learn to finish those sets and when we play hard, we're not that far away. When we play like we did this morning, we're a long way away. We have to stick with what we're doing well right now and that's when we are playing hard."
Marshall had two girls finish the tournament with a double-double. Sammie Bane earned her second of the year against George Mason (39 assists, 10 digs) and Laura Der recorded hers in the ECU win (15 kills, 18 digs). Bane completed the weekend with 103 assists, a 9.36 assist per set average and a second-best five service aces. Der led the team in digs with 31 and had 21 kills. The Herd were led by Tomas in the kills category with 32 and was followed by Byous-McConnell and Cameron Yoho with 26 and 24, respectively. Yoho was the team-leader in service aces, grabbing six on the weekend. Desirre Wilkerson put the best numbers up at the defensive side of the net after finishing with six blocks (4 solo, 2 assist).
Marshall returns back to action next Friday, Sept. 23 at UAB. The match is set to start at 7:00 p.m.
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