Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Charlotte
@HerdVolleyball Earns First Conference Win Over Charlotte
9/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall volleyball earned its first Conference USA win of the season on Friday, Sept. 25 over the Charlotte 49ers, 3-2 (25-21, 15-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-10).
The Herd improves to 10-5 (1-1 C-USA), while Charlotte drops to 4-8 (1-1 C-USA).
Marshall's accuracy on attacks was key to the gaining the first set advantage. While both the Herd and 'Niners had 35 total attacks, Marshall was able to hit on 17 of those, five more than Charlotte. With the match tied at 15, MU went on to take the next five out of six points, including a kills from freshman Zoe Schreiber (Hagerstown, Md.) and junior Ally Kiekover (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Charlotte pulled the match within two points at the 22-20 mark, but kills by junior Cassie Weaver (Huntington, W.Va.) and sophomore Kayla Simmons (Gainesville, Fla.) propelled the Herd to taking the first set.
After dropping the second set, Marshall came out of the break looking to bounce back to take the third. In the most contested set of the night, the two teams ended up battling throughout, as neither team gained a lead larger than three points. Despite trailing 16-13, Marshall kept the 49ers in its sights and was able to tie the set up at 19. From there, the Herd and 'Niners traded blows to again tie the set, this time at 22. Charlotte's defense helped itself walk away with the edge after forcing two attack errors on MU. The set ended with 10 tied scores and four lead changes.
Being down 2-1 in the match, the Herd looked focused in the fourth with its eyes on taking the match to the fifth set. Marshall would do just that. After taking a commanding 11-3 lead in the set that included three kills in a row by senior Jillian Shemanski (Jupiter, Fla.). The senior middle blocker ended up with four kills in that span. The Herd continued to roll in the set, as it maintained a lead larger than seven points. Marshall closed out the set with three kills in rapid succession from Weaver.
Marshall came out strong from the gate to begin the final set. The Herd took a 4-1 lead off two kills and two aces. Charlotte didn't go away quietly though, as it fought back to take a 6-5 lead. With a little back-and-forth action, it wouldn't be until the Herd took an 11-9 lead for MU to pull away. Marshall took four of the final five points, including a block by Justice Craft (Kentwood, Mich.) and Shemanski to finish the match.
Overall, the Herd was led offensively by Weaver, who had an impressive 21 kills on 51 swings and eight errors for a .255 hit percentage. Also in double-digit kills was Kiekover with 13. Shemanski finished with nine kills. Sophomore setter Simmons was dealing tonight with 54 assists, while Allie Kellerman (Louisville, Ky.) finished with 28 digs.
COACH'S CORNER
Quotes from Herd coach Mitch Jacobs
On the defensive game plan entering tonight
"We knew that they have good players, so we knew that we were going to have to win the serve and pass games, and I thought they kicked our butt in that department for the first two sets. We really improved in that category in the latter stages of this match."
On the impact of Jillian Shemanski and Justice Craft
"Having Jill back was a big difference-maker, and that was huge for us. She had three blocks, including the game winner. She is our best defensive middle blocker that can also score. When I put Justice Craft into the game, she brought us a ton of energy tonight and that just got us going."
On Kayla Simmons
"Kayla was on fire. She probably had her best match since she got here. She opened up the attack and really gave us some confidence. I told our girls before the fifth set to get Kayla the ball in order to win this match, and our ball control really took care of it.
On Louisiana Tech, Sunday's Opponent
"LA Tech has really good athletes. They actually just beat Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, who knocked off Rice, and we all know how good Rice is. Louisiana Tech is tough and we're going to need to be ready to go on Sunday."
UP NEXT
Marshall welcomes Louisiana Tech on Sunday Sept. 27 for a 1 p.m. first serve. The Lady Techsters enter the match with a 6-9 record overall and 0-2 in conference.
