Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
UTEP
@HerdVolleyball Secures 3-2 Win Over UTEP
10/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
EL PASO, Texas - Marshall volleyball earned a 3-2 victory (23-25, 31-29, 17-25, 25-18, 16-14) over the UTEP Miners Friday evening.
The Thundering Herd improves 13-8 (4-4 C-USA), while the Miners drop to 7-14 (1-6 C-USA).
Leading the way for Marshall was junior Ally Kiekover (Grand Rapids, Mich.) with 18 kills. Junior Cassie Weaver (Huntington, W.Va) added 17 kills and 22 digs, and senior Lauren Legge (Pliny, W.Va) tallied 11 kills and 10 digs. Sophomore setter Kayla Simmons (Gainesville, Fla.) had 40 assists, while junior libero Allie Kellerman (Louisville, Ky.) recorded 24 digs, giving her over 1,000 in her Marshall career.
The match opened with a back and forth battle, with neither team having more than a three point lead at any point of the opening set. The set was tied at 19 before the Miners took six of the final ten points in the set to take the opening set 25-23.
Marshall started off strong in the second set, jumping out to a 10-7 lead behind a combination of UTEP errors and kills from Legge, Weaver, and Kiekover. The Miners then went on a 10-4 run to take a 17-14 lead before two kills from Weaver and another UTEP error evened the set at 17. From there, the two teams continued to exchange points until the score was 29-29. At that point, sophomore Justice Craft (Kentwood, Mich.) had a kill, and another error from the Miners gave the Herd a 31-29 win in the set.
After the break, the Herd and Miners continued to exchange points until the third set was tied at 9. From there, UTEP took control, scoring nine of the next 13 points and forcing Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs to use both of his timeouts for the set. Marshall was unable to stop the Miners out of the timeouts, as UTEP was able to close out a 25-17 win in the third set.
Marshall bounced back quickly in the fourth set, jumping out to an early 6-3 on quick kills from Legge, Weaver, and Taylor Pelton (Louisville, Ky.). UTEP was able to briefly tie the set at 6-6 before another kill from Pelton began an 11-4 Herd run from which Marshall never looked back, taking the set 25-18.
Marshall jumped out to a quick 7-4 lead in the deciding set on kills from Kiekover, Weaver, and Pelton. UTEP stormed back to take a 10-9 lead that prompted a timeout. From there, the teams exchanged points until the Miners had match point at 14-13. Marshall then took the final three points of the match to win the deciding set 16-14 and take the match 3-2.
COACH'S CORNER
Quotes from Head coach Mitch Jacobs
On tonight's win over UTEP
"Wow, we really needed this one. We are having our ups and downs as a cohesive unit. But in sets two and five tonight the women competed down the stretch and came out on top. Serious hats off to UTEP, that team plays really hard and has a bright future as young as they are."
On Kellerman and Kiekover's play
"Allie Kellerman, whose been struggling at the service line put in a lot of hard work this week and easily had her best night serving in a while. Kiekover also came up big with great fourth and fifth sets."
On Riedel's play
"Taylor Riedel has been the leader we've needed and did a nice job setting set one, and an even better job going back to the defensive position late."
On Simmons' play
"I thought that Kayla was as competitive as I've ever seen her when she entered the match. I was very proud of the way she competed within the game plan, especially down the stretch in sets two and five."
UP NEXT
Marshall travels to UTSA on Sunday for a 12:30 p.m. ET match.
