Marshall University Athletics
Thursday, April 1
Hattiesburg, Miss.
3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM CT
Marshall University
-105,85 CUSA
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University of Texas at El Paso
-106,94 CUSA
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Marshall
22
25
19
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UTEP
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Photo by: Conference USA
Volleyball Season Comes to an End at C-USA Tournament
4/1/2021 6:09:00 PM | Volleyball
Future of Herd volleyball looks bright under coach Aganus
Box Score (PDF)
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Marshall volleyball team saw its 2021 spring season come to a close Thursday in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament. The Herd fell to the West Division's No. 2 seed UTEP Miners in three sets (25-22, 27-25, 25-19).
The Thundering Herd finish the season with a 10-5 overall record. The Miners improve to 10-6 and will face the WKU Hilltoppers, the No. 1 overall seed on Friday at 12 p.m. local time.
"I am so proud of the resilience this team showed all season," Herd head coach Ari Aganus said. "Today wasn't the ending we wanted, but there is no other group I would want to go to battle with. We made strides in the right direction and we will come back stronger next fall."
Redshirt senior Ciara Debell led Marshall with 12 kills, her 13th match in double digits. Sophomore Megan Taylor recorded seven kills, a career-high, and hit .500. Freshman Anna Calcagno also tallied seven kills, added seven digs and one ace. Senior Destiny Leon and junior Macy McElhaney had six kills each. Senior setter Sydney Lostumo finished with 32 assists, her eighth-straight match with 30 or more. Junior libero Sarah Schank led in digs with 11 and added one ace. Freshman Riley Winslow tallied six digs.
Despite losing in straight-sets, the Herd battled throughout the day. The match featured 21 ties and eight lead changes.
The first set had 10 ties and four lead changes. Marshall began in a 3-0 hole but kept fighting and took its first lead at 10-9 after an error from UTEP. The set continued to go back-and-forth, before the Miners took back the lead at 17-16. The Herd kept pulling the score back within one point, but just could not get back in front.
There were seven ties and three lead changes in the second set. Marshall had a lead late, but could not hold off the balanced offense of UTEP. The Miners reached set-point at 24-23, however the Herd kept tying it back up and forcing the set passed 25 points. UTEP finally closed out the set, 27-25, and took a 2-0 lead.
The third set had four ties and one lead change. The Miners pulled ahead at 11-10, however Marshall showed its heart, grit and fight and did not go away quietly. The Herd pulled back within one point at 19-18, but could not maintain the momentum.
The 2021 spring season was one of many successes for Marshall. The squad stayed together after finding out its fall season had been pushed to the spring and continued to train and push through to have a season.
Once the year finally started on Jan. 31 at Xavier, coach Aganus in her second season at the helm got Marshall off on the right track and kept her team playing well throughout the shortened season. Even in losses, fans could see the determination of coach Aganus' team.
The spring season was full of highlights from returners that got started right from the opener as Schank, in her very first collegiate match at libero, set a program record of 40 digs in the win over Xavier, breaking an almost 22-year old mark. Lostumo tallied 64 assists in the second meeting with Xavier on Feb. 14, becoming the first Herd player to break 60 in a match since 2016. In the very same match, Lostumo recorded the 1,000th assist of her collegiate career, and later on in the year reached 1,000 during her Marshall career. Also in the win over Xavier, Debell tallied the 1,000th kill of her collegiate career and also hit 1,000 in her Marshall career later against Florida Atlantic.
Schank recorded the 500th dig of her career versus Charlotte, now with 703, and is well on her way 1,000 in her career. Leon continued to be a force at the net leading the team in blocks and keeping her string active of 42-straight matches with at least one block. Leon also tallied her 200th career block in the regular season finale at Old Dominion. Taylor came on strong late in the season with 36 of her 42 kills coming in the last seven matches of the year. Junior Zoie Holley filled in when needed and had five blocks.
Fresh faces also made their presence known in 2021 with many highlights of their own. McElhaney, after transferring from WVU, finished second on the team with 148 kills and dominated in the home win over Xavier with 22 kills and hit .568. Redshirt freshman Olivia Fogo, a transfer from USC Upstate, finished the year with 47 kills and added 18 blocks. Redshirt sophomore Hayley Delor, transfer from Urbana University, had a career-day against No. 20 WKU with 17 digs to help keep Marshall fighting against the Hilltoppers.
Calcagno and Winslow, both freshmen, were impact players. Calcagno finished the year with 92 kills, good for fourth on the team, had 137 digs and put up a career-day against Xavier with 10 kills and 20 digs. Winslow ended the year with 56 digs and seven aces. She was a perfect 15-for-15 on receptions in game two against the top-ranked Hilltoppers.
By season's end, the Herd received a Conference USA player of the week award four times with Debell earning two Offensive honors. Lostumo and Schank were the other two players receiving Setter and Defensive Player of the Week awards, respectively. From there Marshall pulled in more awards as Schank was named to the All-Academic Team, All-Conference Second Team and the Libero of the Year. Not bad for her first season at the position.
Leon was honored as the Defensive Player of the Year, along with also being named Second Team All-Conference. Debell earned her second First Team All-Conference selection and Lostumo was named to the Second Team.
The outlook for the 2021 fall season looks great for Marshall as the Herd will be returning all three of its seniors in Debell, Lostumo and Leon. The level of excitement that coach Aganus and her staff have brought to Huntington the past two seasons has been undeniable. The future of Thundering Herd volleyball looks very bright.
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!
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Marshall volleyball team saw its 2021 spring season come to a close Thursday in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament. The Herd fell to the West Division's No. 2 seed UTEP Miners in three sets (25-22, 27-25, 25-19).
The Thundering Herd finish the season with a 10-5 overall record. The Miners improve to 10-6 and will face the WKU Hilltoppers, the No. 1 overall seed on Friday at 12 p.m. local time.
"I am so proud of the resilience this team showed all season," Herd head coach Ari Aganus said. "Today wasn't the ending we wanted, but there is no other group I would want to go to battle with. We made strides in the right direction and we will come back stronger next fall."
Redshirt senior Ciara Debell led Marshall with 12 kills, her 13th match in double digits. Sophomore Megan Taylor recorded seven kills, a career-high, and hit .500. Freshman Anna Calcagno also tallied seven kills, added seven digs and one ace. Senior Destiny Leon and junior Macy McElhaney had six kills each. Senior setter Sydney Lostumo finished with 32 assists, her eighth-straight match with 30 or more. Junior libero Sarah Schank led in digs with 11 and added one ace. Freshman Riley Winslow tallied six digs.
Despite losing in straight-sets, the Herd battled throughout the day. The match featured 21 ties and eight lead changes.
The first set had 10 ties and four lead changes. Marshall began in a 3-0 hole but kept fighting and took its first lead at 10-9 after an error from UTEP. The set continued to go back-and-forth, before the Miners took back the lead at 17-16. The Herd kept pulling the score back within one point, but just could not get back in front.
There were seven ties and three lead changes in the second set. Marshall had a lead late, but could not hold off the balanced offense of UTEP. The Miners reached set-point at 24-23, however the Herd kept tying it back up and forcing the set passed 25 points. UTEP finally closed out the set, 27-25, and took a 2-0 lead.
The third set had four ties and one lead change. The Miners pulled ahead at 11-10, however Marshall showed its heart, grit and fight and did not go away quietly. The Herd pulled back within one point at 19-18, but could not maintain the momentum.
The 2021 spring season was one of many successes for Marshall. The squad stayed together after finding out its fall season had been pushed to the spring and continued to train and push through to have a season.
Once the year finally started on Jan. 31 at Xavier, coach Aganus in her second season at the helm got Marshall off on the right track and kept her team playing well throughout the shortened season. Even in losses, fans could see the determination of coach Aganus' team.
The spring season was full of highlights from returners that got started right from the opener as Schank, in her very first collegiate match at libero, set a program record of 40 digs in the win over Xavier, breaking an almost 22-year old mark. Lostumo tallied 64 assists in the second meeting with Xavier on Feb. 14, becoming the first Herd player to break 60 in a match since 2016. In the very same match, Lostumo recorded the 1,000th assist of her collegiate career, and later on in the year reached 1,000 during her Marshall career. Also in the win over Xavier, Debell tallied the 1,000th kill of her collegiate career and also hit 1,000 in her Marshall career later against Florida Atlantic.
Schank recorded the 500th dig of her career versus Charlotte, now with 703, and is well on her way 1,000 in her career. Leon continued to be a force at the net leading the team in blocks and keeping her string active of 42-straight matches with at least one block. Leon also tallied her 200th career block in the regular season finale at Old Dominion. Taylor came on strong late in the season with 36 of her 42 kills coming in the last seven matches of the year. Junior Zoie Holley filled in when needed and had five blocks.
Fresh faces also made their presence known in 2021 with many highlights of their own. McElhaney, after transferring from WVU, finished second on the team with 148 kills and dominated in the home win over Xavier with 22 kills and hit .568. Redshirt freshman Olivia Fogo, a transfer from USC Upstate, finished the year with 47 kills and added 18 blocks. Redshirt sophomore Hayley Delor, transfer from Urbana University, had a career-day against No. 20 WKU with 17 digs to help keep Marshall fighting against the Hilltoppers.
Calcagno and Winslow, both freshmen, were impact players. Calcagno finished the year with 92 kills, good for fourth on the team, had 137 digs and put up a career-day against Xavier with 10 kills and 20 digs. Winslow ended the year with 56 digs and seven aces. She was a perfect 15-for-15 on receptions in game two against the top-ranked Hilltoppers.
By season's end, the Herd received a Conference USA player of the week award four times with Debell earning two Offensive honors. Lostumo and Schank were the other two players receiving Setter and Defensive Player of the Week awards, respectively. From there Marshall pulled in more awards as Schank was named to the All-Academic Team, All-Conference Second Team and the Libero of the Year. Not bad for her first season at the position.
Leon was honored as the Defensive Player of the Year, along with also being named Second Team All-Conference. Debell earned her second First Team All-Conference selection and Lostumo was named to the Second Team.
The outlook for the 2021 fall season looks great for Marshall as the Herd will be returning all three of its seniors in Debell, Lostumo and Leon. The level of excitement that coach Aganus and her staff have brought to Huntington the past two seasons has been undeniable. The future of Thundering Herd volleyball looks very bright.
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!
---HerdZone.com---
Team Stats
MAR
UTEP
Kills
38
57
Errors
15
12
Attempts
109
117
Hitting %
.211
.385
Points
44.0
64.0
Assists
34
55
Aces
4
3
Blocks
2.0
4.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
7
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
OH
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MB
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L/DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballNo one is safe! #volleyball
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