Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UAB
@HerdVolleyball Outlasted at UAB, 3-2
10/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Marshall volleyball faced a setback on Friday night, as it dropped a five-set decision (20-25, 25-18, 26-28, 25-18, 11-15) against the UAB Blazers.
Marshall moves to 15-10 (6-6 C-USA), while UAB goes to 8-18 (1-11 C-USA).
The junior libero, Allie Kellerman (Louisville, Ky.), placed herself in the Marshall record book once again. Kellerman's 32 digs in the match is tied for ninth best all-time in a single match by a member of the Herd. Also having a record night was Kayla Simmons (Gainesville, Fla.) and Ally Kiekover (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Simmons tied a career high in digs with 18, while Kiekover tied a career high in blocks with seven.
Leading the way offensively for the Herd was senior Lauren Legge (Pliny, W.Va.) with 11 kills, while Taylor Pelton (Louisville, Ky.) had 10. Lauren Mattmuller (Venice, Fla.) led Marshall with a .444 hitting percentage, as she had five kills on nine attacks with one error. Simmons had a team high 46 assists.
Marshall came out of the gates strong in the first set, but midway through the set it ended up losing control. UAB took a 10-9 lead, which it would hold on to throughout the match, as the Blazers won set one 25-20.
After dropping the first set, Marshall bounced back to tie the match at one game, apiece before the break. The Herd started strong once again with an early four-point lead. The lead would hold throughout the match until the 15-15 mark after UAB forced a Marshall error. The Herd responded with three straight kills to give it an 18-15 edge. Marshall went on to hold its largest lead of the set of five points at the 21-16 mark. Pelton clinched the set win for the Herd with a kill.
The third set would be the most tightly contested set of the night, as both teams were looking for the 2-1 match advantage. UAB jumped out to a five point lead, but Marshall battled back to tie the set at 13. From there, the Herd and Blazers went back and forth all the way till the end of the set. UAB found a way to come out on top after Marshall surrendered a kill and a service ace to finish the set at 28-26.
In need of the fourth set to extend the match, Marshall took control, as it never allowed UAB to hold a larger lead than one point. The Herd began to separate itself from the Blazers after taking a 13-10 lead off a Taylor Riedel (Huntington, W.Va.) ace. Marshall went on to hold the lead the rest of the way en route to a 25-18 set win.
With the match coming down to the final set, the two teams squared off with neither gaining an advantage larger than one point until the teams switched sides. After the switch, UAB took four of the first six points to give itself a 12-9 advantage. The Blazers went on to close out the match with back-to-back kills.
COACH'S CORNER
Quotes from Head coach Mitch Jacobs
On tonight's match against UAB
"We had a couple nice individual performances tonight. We need to use those and do everything in our power to find some positives in our play right now and build on those."
On Allie Kellerman
"Allie Kellerman had the hardest job tonight and was really solid. We needed to switch up some passing rotations and Allie made sure people knew what was going on each rotation. To pick up 32 digs along with the changes just shows how mentally tough she is."
On Lauren Mattmuller
"It was nice to see Lauren Mattmuller be so productive. She got a chance tonight and made the most of it. She showed tonight that she deserves some more time out there."
UP NEXT
The Herd wraps up its home schedule when it welcomes Southern Miss on Friday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. and then Rice on Sunday at 1 p.m. Marshall will be honoring and thanking its seniors for their years of dedication to the volleyball program on Friday.
