Volleyball Heads West for Conference Match at UTEP

Marshall Volleyball Notes

EL PASO, Texas – The Marshall volleyball team travels out to UTEP for a Conference USA match against the Miners on Friday at 6 p.m. mountain/8 p.m. eastern.

The Thundering Herd enters the match at 12-8 overall and 3-4 in conference. The Miners come in at 9-11 and 2-5 in league play.

Match Details
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Live Video: MINERTV/CUSAtv
Series History: 19th all-time meeting – Marshall leads 11-7.
Last Meeting: October 7, 2018 in Huntington – Marshall won in five sets.

The Herd is looking to get back on the winning side after dropping its last four matches. Despite the losses, Marshall has shown fight in each match. There are just seven contests remaining in the regular season and all C-USA matches.

Marshall is still among the nation's leaders in blocks. The Herd moved up one spot from 11th to 10th in the NCAA with 2.88 blocks per set. As a team Marshall has 207 blocks and two players in the top 25 in the country in blocks per set. Junior Destiny Leon had her third match this season with 10 or more total blocks in the loss to No. 19 Rice. She has moved up to first on the team, first in Conference USA and 13th in the nation with 1.41 blocks per set and she has exactly 100 after tallying just nine all of last season. Sophomore Isa Dostal is second on the team and in Conference USA, as well as being 21st in the NCAA in blocks per set with 1.37. She has 92 total.

Staying on defense, senior libero Amber Weber continues to be the floor leader and has been racking up the digs with 349 total and 139 over the last six matches. She has had 20 or more in last three matches as well including 29 in the loss to North Texas, an average of 7.25 per set.

Redshirt junior Ciara Debell still leads the way on offense with 286 kills, an average of 3.97 per set. Debell has also tallied 180 digs and 54 total blocks as an all-around threat for the Herd. Sophomore Sarah Schank is second on the team with 153 kills. Leon has 120 this season and sophomore Mion Weldon joined the 100 kill-club with her last kill in the fourth set against North Texas.

Sophomore Gabrielle Coulter leads the team in assists with 426 and also has 147 digs. Junior Sydney Lostumo has 290 assists and leads the Herd with 22 service aces.

Opponent
The UTEP Miners got off to an 0-4 start in conference action before getting a sweep over Louisiana Tech and a four-set victory at FIU. The Miners lost its last outing at Florida Atlantic in three sets. This match will be a battle of first-year head coaches as UTEP is led by Ben Wallis who is also in his first season as a Division I head coach. Wallis had great success the last few years as an assistant at New Mexico State including three trips to the NCAA Tournament.

The Miners feature four players with over 100 kills each this season in Serena Patterson (191), Cheyenne Jones (183), Mallory Yost (134) and Anamarija Mikovic (111). UTEP has also been using a two-setter rotation with Syenna Masaki leading with 375 assists and Kristen Fritsche right behind with 332.

On defense Alex Torres is the leader in digs with 276 while Patterson is second with 168. The Miners are averaging 2.22 blocks per set this season but have also been allowing 2.20 blocks per set. Two players have over 60 total blocks this season as Yost (65) and Jones (60) have been the leaders at the net. Kenidy Howard and Alianza Darley are right behind with 42 and 40, respectively.

Up Next
Following the match in El Paso, Marshall travels back east across the state of Texas for a Sunday afternoon meeting with the UTSA Roadrunners.

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

To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules, and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS or Android!

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Volleyball Heads West for Conference Match at UTEP

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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