Marshall University Athletics
@HerdVolleyball Falls to Rice at C-USA Championship
11/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Box Score
HOUSTON, Texas - Marshall volleyball fell to host Rice in three sets (24-26, 23-25, 20-25) in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Championships Friday. The Thundering Herd ends the season with a 22-8 record.
All four seniors for the Thundering Herd added a significant contribution. Cassie Weaver had a team-high 15 kills, while Ally Kiekover posted 13 kills with a team-best .478 hitting percentage. Allie Kellerman recorded a match-high 15 digs, and Taylor Riedel was third on the team with seven digs.
Freshman setter Madelyn Cole recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 32 assists and 12 digs. Cole added three blocks and two kills. Junior Justice Craft and freshman Jac'cara Walker each had seven kills.
Marshall began the match strong by taking the first two points of the set. The Thundering Herd maintained the two-point lead at the 6-4 mark after it forced a Rice attacking error. The lead didn't last long, as the Owls tied the frame at six with a kill and a block. From there, neither team gained a substantial lead until Marshall took a 17-14 advantage following a Weaver kill. The Herd held its edge and eventually pushed its lead to four at 21-17, which forced Rice to call a timeout. After the stoppage, Rice rallied and scored four out of five points to cut the Herd's lead to 22-21. MU regained its two-point lead at 23-21, but once again it was short-lived, as Rice tied the set at 23. A kill by Weaver gave Marshall the set point at 24-23, but the Owls responded with three-straight points to take the opening set.
The second set was all Marshall in the beginning, as it built a commanding 8-2 lead. Kiekover had three kills, while Walker had two and Craft had one in the 10-point span. The Thundering Herd held at least a four-point lead in the set until the 13-10 mark. The Herd quickly regained its four-point lead and pushed it to five at 17-12. Rice started to rally as it grabbed three points in a row to force a Marshall timeout. The Herd took a 19-15 lead after the timeout, but the Owls continued to chip away at their deficit and eventually brought the set within one at 20-19. After a Walker kill and a Rice error to give Marshall a 22-19 lead, the Owls scored three-straight points to tie the frame at 22. Kiekover gave MU a 23-22 lead with a kill, but Rice scored the next three points to clinch the two-set advantage.
Coming out of the intermission down by two sets, Marshall took an early two-point lead over the Owls for the third straight set. Rice quickly answered and tied the set at five. The set went on to have six ties, which all occurred before either team reached 10 points. Tied at nine, Rice recorded back-to-back blocks and forced a Herd attack error to take a 12-9 lead. The Owls never surrendered the lead from there and took a seven-point lead at 21-14. The Thundering Herd kept fighting by scoring five points in a row to cut the deficit lead to two. Rice went on to close out the match with a 25-20 set win.
The loss marked the last time Kiekover, Kellerman, Weaver and Riedel will play for the Green and White. Kiekover finishes in the top 10 all-time in five different categories, while Kellerman ends her Herd career in the top 10 of three career categories. Weaver ranks in the top 10 for a career in two categories.
COACH'S CORNER
Quotes by head coach Mitch Jacobs
On the match and season:
"Special season. Frustrating that we didn't finish when we had Rice down but give them the credit. They executed down the stretch."
On the senior class:
"I will forever miss this group of seniors. They worked very hard to make this a group of women that loved to play with and for each other."
