Marshall University Athletics
@HerdVolleyball Comeback Falls Short Against Rice
10/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Final Stats
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- The Marshall volleyball team forced a fifth set against Rice Friday, but fell to the Owls, 3-2, at the Cam Henderson Center (25-23, 25-21, 15-25, 14-25, 15-11).
The Owls improved to 15-5 and 5-1 in Conference USA, while Marshall dropped to 7-14 and 2-4 in the league.
Madison Hill led the Herd with 19 kills. Jac'cara Walker tallied 12 kills and Addisyn Rowe added 10. Madelyn Cole had 50 assists for the Herd. Jessa Long recorded 19 digs and Amber Weber had 14 digs.
Rice opened the match by taking six of the first eight points. The Herd cut Rice's lead to 10-9 on three kills by Walker and an Owls attack error, but Rice increased its lead back to three points with a kill and a block. The Herd took a 20-19 lead on an ace by Walker and a Rice error, but the Owls closed out the first set with a 25-23 win.
The Herd opened the second set by taking the first three points, but Rice took the next three to even the set. A kill by Hill gave the Herd a 7-6 lead, but that was the last time Marshall led in the set. The Herd used a run of three straight Rice errors to tie the set at 20, but Rice took four of the final five points, and the second set, 25-21.
Rice won four of the first five points of the third set, but the Herd battled back to even the set at six on an ace by Mattmuller. The Herd used an eight-point run in the middle of the set to take a 19-10 lead and never looked back. Hill had three kills during the run. Marshall took the third stanza, 25-15.
Marshall opened the fourth set by taking seven of the first ten points. Rice cut the Herd lead to two points at 13-11, but the Owls managed just three points the rest of the way. A five-point run, capped by a Weber service ace, pushed the Herd's lead to 19-12. Another five-point run for the Herd put Marshall went on its way to recording a 25-14 win, forcing a fifth and final set.
Rice jumped out to an early 6-3 lead in the fifth, forcing Marshall to call a timeout. The Owls increased their lead to four points at 10-6, forcing the Herd to burn its final timeout. A kill by Walker put the Herd within two points at 12-10, but Rice captured three of the final four points to win the deciding set, 15-11.
The Herd is back in action Sunday afternoon when it takes on Louisiana Tech at the Cam Henderson Center. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs:
ââ'¬â€¹Opening statement
"We see a lot of energy out of our team. It will drop. It will then go up and down, and up and down. We need to learn how to sustain our energy, but that's what you'll get with a young team. I thought our middles and Jessa Long had a good night. We really picked everything up in set three, because there was zero energy in the opening two sets. We just need to keep pushing and keep going. We're not far off. We just need to learn to finish and be aggressive. They sideout at 91 percent in the fifth set, but they weren't doing that well in the other sets. You can't do that. You need to serve tougher and play harder.
We were up against a really good team tonight and had them up against the ropes. They just played lights out in the fifth set. We didn't play poorly in set five. We sideout at 71 percent and that's usually good enough to win every time. You just need to be better then and there."
On the performances of Addisyn Rowe and Shelby Conley
"The more we can get Addy involved, the better we can be. She's a young player. She's getting better in front of our eyes in every game. It's fun to watch, but it would be better with some Ws."
