Volleyball Set to Host No. 19 Rice in the Cam

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall volleyball team is back at home to take on the 19th-ranked Rice Owls, Friday at 6 p.m. in the Cam Henderson Center.

The Thundering Herd enters the match 12-6 overall and 3-2 in Conference USA. The Owls, the reigning league champions, come in at 16-1 and 5-0 in conference play.

Match Details
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Live Video: HERDVISION/CUSAtv with Jake Griffith on the call.
Marshall Radio: 88.1 WMUL-FM and streamed online www.marshall.edu/wmul.
Series History: 20th all-time meeting, Rice leads 13-6
Last Meeting: Oct. 12, 2018 in Houston – Rice won in five sets.

Marshall is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time since Aug. 30-31 at Indiana and against Santa Clara. The Herd fell in three sets at WKU and in five sets at Middle Tennessee, and is currently tied for fifth in the conference. The match against Rice will be just the third home contest of the year for the Herd.

Marshall is still among the top teams in the nation in blocks per set, 11th, with 2.85. The Herd has had 11 matches this season with 10 or total blocks and had 16 in the loss to the Blue Raiders. It was Marshall second-highest total of the season behind the 22 rejections it tallied at Morehead State. Sophomore Isa Dostal leads the conference and is 19th in the nation with 1.38 blocks per set, 87 total. Junior Destiny Leon is right behind with 1.33 per set, 85 total, and is 27th in the NCAA.

Redshirt junior Ciara Debell continues to lead the way on offense with 264 kills, an average of 4.06 per set, and had tallied 10 or more in every match this season except for one versus Coppin State. Debell has recorded 701 kills in her time at Marshall and 787 total for her career. Sophomore Sarah Schank is second on the team with 139 kills. Leon has tallied 109 kills and sophomore Mion Weldon needs just eight more kills to hit the century mark for the year.

Sophomore Gabrielle Coulter leads with 380 assists and junior Sydney Lostumo is next with 278 as the two setters continue with the rotation. Lostumo leads the Herd with 21 service aces while Coulter is second with 16 and Schank has 15. Debell, with 11, makes it four players for Marshall with 10 or more aces this season.

Senior libero Amber Weber continues to pile up the digs as she reached 300 for the year with her 22nd and final dig at Middle Tennessee. Weber is averaging 4.62 digs per set. The Ocala, Fla., native has 1,200 digs in her collegiate career with 1,074 coming at Marshall, and has tallied 10 or more digs in 21-straight matches going back to last season. Debell is second on the team with 161 digs.

Opponent
The Rice Owls have been dominant this season and have won seven-straight contests. The last lost was against Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 14. The Owls followed up with a five-set win over No. 3 Texas and then six-straight sweeps including all five of its Conference USA matches to date. Head Coach Genny Volpe is in her 16th season at Rice and has compiled a 302-179 record.

Nicole Lennon, who was named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week the first five weeks of the season, leads the way on offense with 274 kills. Lennon is averaging 4.98 kills per set and has a .296 hitting percentage. Anota Adekunle has been a great compliment to Lennon with 179 kills, an average of 3.14 per set, and a hitting percentage of .439. The Owls as a team are averaging 14.60 kills per set while opponents are averaging 10.91.

Rice has also been using two players sharing time as the setter with Adria Martinez leading with 400 assists and Carly Graham is next with 263. Graham leads the team with 15 service aces.

On defense, Lee Ann Cunningham leads in digs with 272 and is averaging 4.69 per set. Tabitha Brown is second with 203 while Lennon is third with 185. As a team Rice is averaging 1.93 blocks per set which is eighth in the conference. Grace Morgan leads the Owls with 53 total, an average of 0.98 per set, and Adekunle is second with 40 total and an average of 0.70 per set.

Up Next
Marshall stays at home to take on North Texas on Sunday, Oct. 20, at 12 p.m. North Texas is 4-1 in conference play and is at Charlotte Friday night.

For all the latest information about Marshall volleyball, follow @HerdVolleyball on Twitter and Marshall University Volleyball on Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Gabrielle Coulter

Ciara DeBell

Isa Dostal

Destiny Leon

Sydney Lostumo

Sarah Schank

Amber Weber

Mion Weldon

Marshall University Athletics