Volleyball Back in the Cam to take on Old Dominion

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall volleyball team is back in action in the Cam Henderson Center on Friday and Saturday as the Old Dominion Monarchs come to town. First serve on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m., and 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The Thundering Herd enters the weekend with an overall record of 7-12 and 3-3 in Conference USA. The Monarchs come in at 10-8 overall and 2-2 in league play. Old Dominion is only in its second season with a volleyball program, and this will be the squad's first trip to Huntington.

Match Details
Marshall Match Notes (PDF)
Live Stats: Herdzone.com
Live Stream: FRIDAY | SATURDAY both matches will be on ESPN+ with Jake Griffith on the call
Marshall Radio: 88.1 WMUL-FM and online www.marshall.edu/wmul.
Series History: 2 all-time meetings, Marshall leads 2-0.
Last Meeting: March 21-22, 2021 in Norfolk – Herd won the first match in five sets and then the second match in three sets.

Last time out on the court, the Herd got rolling down at Florida Atlantic offensively and defensively despite missing two key pieces in Destiny Leon and Lydia Montague. In the first match on Friday, Marshall's defense shined as Essence Clerkley and Zoie Holley filled in exceptionally well in the middle at the net. Clerkley set a career-high with nine total blocks and Holley tied her career-best with four more. The career-highs didn't stop there as Anna Calcagno finished with five and Brynn Brown added four. Macy McElhaney also had four blocks as Marshall dominated the match at the net. The Herd tallied 14 total team blocks in the win, forcing the Owls into 30 attack errors and hit just .068. Marshall's offense managed just 30 kills, but they didn't need as much production from the offense, gaining so many points from errors which also included six service errors and five ball-handling errors from the Owls.

The Herd's offense came through on Saturday with 41 total kills and hit .272. Ciara DeBell led the way with 14 kills and McElhaney had 12. Calcagno had a great bounce back performance on offense with eight kills and hit .500, a career-best percentage. At the net, Florida Atlantic attempted to make some adjustments as Clerkley stuffed four more attempts in the first set. As a team, Marshall tallied nine team blocks. Despite not as many blocks being recorded, the Herd's defense still forced 23 attack errors and the Owls managed to hit just .085 for the match.

Marshall still leads the nation in total blocks with 201 and rank 24th in blocks per set at 2.61. The Herd's defense has had 11 different players register at least eight total blocks this season. Marshall is 13th in the NCAA in total digs with 1,169.

After her exceptional weekend in Boca Raton, Clerkley was named Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week. The junior middle blocker tallied a total of 13 blocks in the two matches. Clerkley now has 45 total blocks this season and is averaging 0.92 in her first season with Marshall after starring for two years at Blinn College on the JUCO level. Offensively, Clerkley has 48 kills and recorded her first ace of the season at FAU.

On offense, DeBell continues to lead in kills with 251 and an average of 3.26 per set. She is fourth in program history with 1,311 during her time with Marshall. DeBell has 1,397 in her collegiate career. The graduate student is also second on the team in digs with 203 and service aces with 15.

After a great weekend, McElhaney is now second on the team in kills with 129 and increased her average to 2.11 per set. She is also third in blocks with 47.

Graduate student Sydney Lostumo is averaging 8.06 assists per set and has a career-best 621 this season. She is currently tied with Colette Marquis (1992-04) for ninth all-time in Marshall history with 1,666. Lostumo has 2,058 in her collegiate career. The Gilbert, Ariz., native also leads the Herd in aces with 23.

Senior libero Sarah Schank is second in conference and 13th in the NCAA in total digs with 364. She also ranks second in the league in digs per set with 4.73. Down at Florida Atlantic, Schank moved ahead of Jessica Downs (1996-99) into 13th place all-time at Marshall and now has 1,066 career digs. Schank needs 35 more to move ahead of Ashley Barnard (2000-03) for 12th all-time.

Following the two home matches against the Monarchs, Marshall will have just four regular season contests remaining. The Herd hits the road, Oct. 22-23, at Charlotte. Marshall closes the regular season back in the Cam Henderson Center for Senior Weekend against the FIU Panthers, Nov. 5-6.

The Opponent
Last season as a first-time program, Old Dominion finished 7-11 overall and 4-8 in C-USA. This season the Monarchs are above .500 and have earned splits in both of its C-USA weekends. At Florida Atlantic, Sept. 24-25, Old Dominion dropped the first match in a sweep and then came back and won the second match in four sets. Its last time on the court against Charlotte, Oct. 8-9, the teams traded sweeps as the 49ers won the Friday meeting and then the Monarchs took the Saturday match. In between, Old Dominion played UAB in two matches that did not count in the conference standings, since the Blazers are in the west, and the two teams split with the Monarchs winning the first meeting in five sets and then losing the next in four.

Old Dominion has a balanced offense as there are seven players all averaging over 1.00 kill per set and three averaging over 2.00 kills per set. Hailey Duncan leads with 154 and 2.41 per set. Myah Conway is next with 113 total, followed by Kira Smith with 109. Alessia Sgherza is second in kills per set with 2.30 and 106 total. The team is hitting .201 this season and allowing opponents an attack percentage of .219.

Smith was named C-USA Freshman of the Week on Monday after averaging 4.50 kills per set against Charlotte. She finished with 27 kills in 64 total attacks and committed just eight attack errors. Smith added three aces and 13 digs. Conway was named Freshman of the Week back on Sept. 20.

Teresa Atilano has been the main setter with 596 assists, an average of 9.31 per set. Atilano was named league Setter of the Week on Sept. 20 after totaling 138 assists in wins over Radford, Buffalo and Norfolk State.

The Monarchs average 2.41 blocks per set this season and have two players averaging over 1.00 block per set. Olivia De Jesus has 73 total blocks, 1.16 per set, and Duncan has 72, 1.13 per set. De Jesus was named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 4 after recording 21 total blocks in the two matches against UAB.

Jordan Daniel leads the team in digs with 238, an average of 3.90 per set.

Following the two matches at Marshall, Old Dominion still has six conference matches remaining after already having its off weekend. The Monarchs head back to Norfolk to take on FIU, Oct. 22-23, before going back on the road to face league-leaders WKU, Oct. 28-29. Old Dominion finishes the regular season at home against Middle Tennessee, Nov. 5-6. The Monarchs host the Conference USA Tournament this season, scheduled for Nov. 19-21.

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

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---HerdZone.com---

Volleyball Back in the Cam to take on Old Dominion

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Players Mentioned

Brynn Brown

Anna Calcagno

Essence Clerkley

Ciara DeBell

Zoie Holley

Destiny Leon

Sydney Lostumo

Macy McElhaney

Lydia Montague

Sarah Schank

Marshall University Athletics