Volleyball Falls in Five at Charlotte

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CHARLOTTE – The Marshall volleyball team lost a five-set match (25-20, 19-25, 18-25, 25-20, 12-15) at the Charlotte 49ers, Friday night. Graduate student Ciara DeBell recorded her 11th double-double of the season with 17 kills and 21 digs.

The Thundering Herd falls to 8-14 overall and 4-5 in Conference USA. The 49ers improve to 11-8 overall and 4-3 in league play. The teams meet again Saturday at 3 p.m. The match will be live streamed on CUSAtv.

"It was a great battle tonight," Herd head coach Ari Aganus said. "We came up short but our efforts were the best we've had in a long time. We have some really specific things to clean up and get right back at it tomorrow!"

DeBell led the Herd offensively and made it now three-straight matches with a double-double. DeBell's 21 digs also puts her just seven away from reaching 1,000 digs in her collegiate career. Senior Macy McElhaney was next on offense with 14 kills and added 11 digs for her third double-double of the year. Junior Lydia Montague and sophomore Anna Calcagno added 10 kills each. Montague finished with a hitting percentage of .400 and Calcagno hit .310. Graduate student Destiny Leon had seven kills in her return to the lineup after missing the last four matches. Junior Essence Clerkley added two kills.

Graduate student Sydney Lostumo recorded a season-high 56 assists. It was her third-straight match and fifth overall this season with at least 50. Lostumo surpassed Madelyn Cole (2016-17) in the first set to move into eight all-time at Marshall. She now has 1,828 assists in her Herd career and 2,220 in her collegiate career. Lostumo finished just short of her third-straight double-double tallying nine digs.

Senior libero Sarah Schank recorded 22 digs. Schank now ranks 11th in program history with 1,126 career digs, moving ahead of Jodi Fick (1999-2002). Schank also had two assists. Sophomore Riley Winslow had a career-high 11 digs, including four in the third set. She added one assist and one ace as well.

Marshall finished with nine total team blocks. Montague led the way with six. McElhaney recorded four blocks while DeBell and Calcagno had two each. Leon, in her return, kept her streak alive up to now 60-straight matches played with a block. Leon finished with two.

The entire match was a back-and-forth battle that totaled 27 ties and 16 lead changes.

The first set had nine ties and four lead changes. Marshall had the early advantage and led by as much as four, 9-5, until the 49ers went on a run to take the lead and go up 11-9. The Herd battled back, tying the score at 13-13 on a kill from Calcagno. Charlotte regained the lead but could not put Marshall away. The Herd tied the score at 18-18 on a kill from DeBell and took back the lead at 19-18 on a kill from McElhaney that led to a 49ers timeout. Charlotte scored the next two points to take back the lead, however it was short-lived. Marshall rolled out a 6-0 run to end the set and take a 1-0 lead. McElhaney finished the first set with four kills and hit .400. DeBell tallied eight digs while Lostumo put up 10 assists.

The second set belonged to Charlotte. The Herd led briefly at 2-1 before the 49ers took over. Marshall attempted to battle back toward the end but could not keep it running. Charlotte tied the match at 1-1.

In the third set, there were four ties and three lead changes early. The 49ers regained the lead at 7-6 and held on for the remainder of the period. Marshall trailed 2-1.

The Herd kept on fighting in the fourth set. There were six ties and three lead changes early in the period. Marshall took the lead for good at 7-6 on a block from Leon and McElhaney. Charlotte called its first timeout after a kill from Montague put the Herd up three at 11-8. The teams traded points, but Marshall maintained the lead. The Herd reached set-point, 24-20, on a kill from McElhaney and then finished the set on a kill from Leon. Marshall tied the match at 2-2 and forced the fifth and decisive set. DeBell had five kills in the fourth with Montague and Leon adding four each. Lostumo had 15 assists. Schank had three diving efforts to dig out an attack and keep a rally alive. Marshall hit .375 as a team in the fourth set.

The final set featured five ties and four lead changes as both teams continued to battle. The Herd took an early lead at 3-2 before the 49ers got out in front and built up a three-point lead at 7-4 and again at 8-5. Marshall kept right on fighting with a 5-0 run to go up 10-8, with a kill from Calcagno giving the Herd the two-point advantage. However, the home team came back and retook the lead at 12-11 and then finished the set and the day with the win.

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

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Team Stats

Ciara DeBell

Macy McElhaney

Anna Calcagno

Lydia Montague

Players Mentioned

Anna Calcagno

Essence Clerkley

Ciara DeBell

Destiny Leon

Sydney Lostumo

Macy McElhaney

Lydia Montague

Sarah Schank

Riley Winslow

Players Mentioned

Anna Calcagno

Essence Clerkley

Ciara DeBell

Destiny Leon

Sydney Lostumo

Macy McElhaney

Lydia Montague

Sarah Schank

Riley Winslow

Marshall University Athletics