Marshall University Athletics
@HerdVolleyball Sweep Day Two At Fairfield Invitational
9/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Final Stats (Marshall vs. Stony Brook) | Final Stats (Marshall vs. Boston College)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall volleyball swept day two at the Fairfield Invitational with victories over the Stony Brook Seawolves and Boston College Eagles, by a score of 3-2 in both matches.
The Herd moves to 6-1, while Stony Brook fell to 1-5 and Boston College dropped to 4-2.
Junior Ally Kiekover (Grand Rapids, Mich.) was named to the All-Tournament team after the conclusion of the Herd's match Saturday evening. Kiekover guided the Herd to a 2-1 record over the weekend with 35 kills with six errors on 57 attacks, good for a .509 hit percentage. Also, Kiekover had 11 total blocks through the tournament and five aces.
MARSHALL VS. STONY BROOK (25-14, 18-25, 25-19, 20-25, 15-13)
In the first set, the Herd and Seawolves battled back-and-forth to begin as the score was tied three times within the first ten points. It wasn't until then when Marshall began to see separation from Stony Brook. The Herd gain a six-point lead (11-5) by an ace from Cassie Weaver (Huntington, W.Va.) and forcing attack errors. Sophomore Taylor Pelton (Louisville, Ky.) took control of the set to push the Herd's lead to 10 points with four kills. MU went on to win the first set, 25-14.
After dropping the second set, Marshall came out strong in the third by taking a 16-10 lead over the Seawolves. The Herd's outside hitters and defense played a pivotal role in holding on to the lead and help MU earn the 2-1 set advantage heading into the fourth set. Weaver and Pelton each recorded three kills after the six-point lead, while the defense forced two attack errors.
The fourth set was a tightly contested, as the two teams would be within three points of each other until the Seawolves was able to push their lead to 18-14. After its four point lead, Stony Brook extend the match with the set win.
The fifth and final set showed the resilience of the Herd that head coach Mitch Jacobs has been preaching to the team that they needed to have. The Seawolves and Thundering Herd went toe-to-toe with each team trading points as the score would be tied at 6-all. The Herd broke the tie and went on a four-point run. Stony Brook didn't go away quietly though, as it tied the set up at 13 points, apiece. MU snapped the tie with a Kiekover kill that forced a SBU timeout. After the timeout, an attack error by the Seawolves allowed the Herd to clinch the match.
Pelton finished the match with a team high 19 kills on 29 attacks, good for a .621 hit percentage. Pelton committed just one attack error in the match. Junior Allie Kellerman (Louisville, Ky.) had 20 digs, while junior Taylor Riedel (Huntington, W.Va.) had 24 assists. Kiekover led the Herd in the rejection category with two solo blocks and three assist blocks.
MARSHALL VS. BOSTON COLLEGE (21-25, 26-24, 25-20, 23-25, 15-11)
The Eagles soared out to an early 6-1 lead in the first set of the match. The Herd thundered back to tie the set up at 13-all after a Lauren Legge (Pliny, W.Va.) kill. Marshall went on a four-point run to take the lead. After MU held a two-point lead, BC battled back to give itself a 20-16 lead. Boston College won the set, by a score of 25-21.
Despite dropping the first set, Marshall came back in the second and tied the match up at one. The set remained tied early on, but the Herd found a way to edge away from the Eagles to take a 16-10 lead. It was truly a team effort to push Marshall in the lead as six different players recorded kills, which includes Justice Craft (Kentwood, Mich.), Kassidy Lemons (Prichard, W.Va.), Weaver, Legge, Pelton and Kiekover. Boston College went on a run itself as it scored the next eight points to take a two-point lead (18-16). After the two teams traded kills, Marshall went on a three-point run that featured a kill by Kiekover and two aces. The teams tied up again once more at 21 points, but after that the Herd took advantage and held off the Eagles for a 26-24 set victory.
The Herd kept on rolling in the third with Marshall opening the set at 5-4. The lead was held for the entirety of the set with the closest Boston College got was within one point. Marshall finished the set with a 25-20 win. Pelton led the way with five kills.
After dropping the fourth set, Marshall responded in the tie-breaking set. Although trailing 7-4 to begin the final set, Marshall roared back to score the next six points to take a 10-7 lead. The Herd never looked back and closed out the match with a 15-11 victory.
Similar to Pelton earlier, Kiekover dominated the match with her play. The junior recorded 20 kills with just one error on 27 attacks for a .704 hit percentage. She also recorded four aces and two solo blocks. Legge, Pelton and Weaver each registered double-digit kills with 13, 12 and 11, respectively. Weaver posted a double-double with 17 digs. Jillian Shemanski (Jupiter, Fla.) was tied with Kiekover in solo blocks with two.
COACH'S CORNER:
Quotes from Herd coach Mitch Jacobs
On the Stony Brook match:
"Nice to get the win. But I am more proud of the way we were forcing Stony Brook to have to score for themselves down the stretch. Sometimes they did and win sets, but mostly we stayed alive in rallies and give our side the chance to score. Now we need to start doing more with our transition. You see 31 attack errors to 15 and you think we controlled the match, but it could have one either way."
On Taylor Pelton's performance against Stony Brook:
"Taylor Pelton was on fire and is really good at adjusting to different set locations. But to only have one attack error in 29 swings is amazing."
On the Herd's play on Saturday:
"I'm very proud of the way our team bounced back from yesterday's loss to get two wins today. In the first game we did a very good job of keeping the ball in play. We kept that going for the most part against Boston College and yet we had to also get our kills and hold off a team with very strong attackers."
"Our service game was strong all day and allowed our defense, especially our blocking to make a big difference in the outcome. Kiekover was fantastic all day and yet throughout different people kept stepping up."
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Up Next
The Herd will travel to the Panther Invitational on Friday, Sept. 11 and will face Wake Forest at 4:30 p.m. Marshall wraps up the tournament on Saturday with matches against High Point at 10:30 a.m. and Davidson at 5 p.m.
