Volleyball Splits in Final Day of SEMO Invitational

Game Books: ARKANSAS STATE | MEMPHIS

Volleyball Splits in Final Day of SEMO Invitational
Herd defeated Memphis in five sets in last match

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Marshall volleyball team played well and showed its fight taking a split in the final day of the SEMO Invitational on Saturday. The Herd lost in five sets to Arkansas State (23-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 9-15) and then defeated the Memphis Tigers in five sets (15-25, 25-12, 25-17, 22-25, 15-10).

The Thundering Herd is now 3-7 after its first three weekends.

"I am so proud of the resilience of this team," Herd head coach Ari Aganus said. "It has been challenging to get all the pieces together and today we finally got everything rolling. We relied heavily on Ciara Debell and Megan Taylor and they stayed steady for 10 sets, playing back-to-back. Sydney Lostumo did a great job spreading the ball and getting everyone involved, and keeping the tempo fast to make all of our hitters successful.

"We fought through adversity and stuck to the game plan from every person on and off the stat line."

Game One: Arkansas State 3, Marshall 2
The Herd put together a valiant comeback effort but just could not carry the momentum into the fifth set. Arkansas State took the first two sets, and then Marshall came roaring back winning the third and fourth sets. The Red Wolves pulled away quickly in the fifth to earn the win.

Graduate Ciara Debell tied her previous season-high with 19 kills and added 13 digs for her seventh double-double of the year. Junior Megan Taylor put up a career-best 17 kills on another career-high 36 attempts. Taylor had three blocks as well. Junior Lydia Montague had six kills and six blocks. Junior Essence Clerkley finished with six kills and four blocks. Senior Zoie Holley who earned the start tallied two kills and a career-high four blocks. Fifth-year senior Destiny Leon had two kills and two blocks keeping her streak alive at 51-straight matches with at least one block.

Fifth-year senior Syndey Lostumo finished with 43 assists and 13 digs for her fifth double-double of the season and eighth of her career. Digs were evenly distributed among the Herd with four players finishing in double-figures. Along with Debell and Lostumo tallying 13 each, senior libero Sarah Schank had 11 and freshman Brynn Brown recorded 10.

Marshall put up a season-high of 10 service aces. Leon led the way with a career-high three. Lostumo, Debell and freshman Eden McElhaney had two each. McElhaney made her collegiate debut and also had seven digs as well as two assists. Montague added one more ace.

Arkansas State led from beginning to end in the first set, however the Herd showed its fight by battling back from large deficits to keep it close. Marshall trailed by as much as eight at 16-8. The Herd came roaring back right at the end with a 4-0 run, sparked by two Leon aces, to pull within one at 24-23. The Red Wolves scored the final point to grab the 1-0 lead. Debell finished the first set with seven kills.

The second set was a rigorous back-and-forth affair with 10 ties and three lead changes. Unfortunately for Marshall, Arkansas State put together a late run to go up 23-18, and then closed out the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Taylor tallied five kills in the second set.

With its back against the wall, the Herd came out in the third set and took the lead at 2-1 after a kill from Debell, and led the rest of the way. The Red Wolves kept it close, however Marshall responded to its opponent's scores to stay out in front. The Herd had three team blocks in the frame and forced seven attack errors. Clerkley recorded her fourth kill of the set for the final point as Marshall stayed alive to push the match to a fourth set.

The Herd fell behind early, 4-1, but kept on fighting and took the lead at 10-9. Arkansas State tied the set at 19-19, but then a kill from Taylor put Marshall back out in front to stay. Taylor and Debell had the last two points for the Herd to earn the win and force the match to a fifth set.

In the final and decisive frame, there were three ties and one lead change early. The Red Wolves took the lead at 4-3 and held on for the remainder of the set.

Game Two: Marshall 3, Memphis 2
The Herd showed its fight and grit once again to end the weekend with the win and stop the losing skid.

Ciara Debell led the way on offense again with another 19 kills. She added 12 digs for her eighth double-double of the season and 35th of her great career. Debell is now up to 1,201 kills in her time with the Green & White, and 1,287 in her collegiate career. Megan Taylor and Lydia Montague were next with 13 kills each. Destiny Leon contributed eight kills, with Essence Clerkley adding seven.

Sydney Lostumo finished with 53 assists, her first match with at least 50 since she put up a career-high 64 this past season against Xavier at home on Feb. 14. Lostumo recorded her 1,400th assist in her career at Marshall on the final point of the day. She needs just 92 more to get into the all-time top 10 in program history. Lostumo has a total of 1,792 assists in her collegiate career The fifth-year senior setter also had eight digs and four kills.

The Herd finished with 11 total team blocks. Montague led the way with seven. Leon added four blocks and moved her streak to 52-straight matches with a block. Debell, Clerkley and Taylor had three blocks each with Lostumo adding two.

Senior libero Sarah Schank recorded 24 digs in the win and also had six assists. The Naperville, Ill., native has 901 digs in her career, recording her 900th in the fifth set. Junior Meagan Camden finished with 12 digs and Brynn Brown had nine.

Marshall struggled in the first set. There were two ties and one lead change early before the Tigers began to run away.

The Herd immediately bounced back, dominating the second set and leading from beginning to end. Marshall used runs of 3-0, 5-0, 7-0, and finally another 3-0 run for the 25-12 win. The 7-0 run put the Herd up 18-5. Debell recorded her sixth kill of the set to finish things off, and tie the match at 1-1. Marshall hit .517 in the set with 16 kills and just two one error in 29 attacks.

In the third set, the Herd led from beginning to end once again. A kill from Montague got it started as Marshall scored the first four points. Later in the set, a 5-0 run put the Herd up 15-8 with the last point of the run coming on an ace from Lostumo. Memphis closed the gap to four at 21-17, before Marshall scored the final four points to take a 2-1 lead. A block from Montague and Clerkley moved it to set-point, and then a Memphis error ended the third.

The Tigers battled in the fourth set for a 25-22 win to tie the match at 2-2 and force the Herd into another fifth and decisive set.

The fifth set featured five ties and one lead change early. Marshall trailed 10-8 and then went on a run. The Herd tied it up at 10-10 with back-to-back kills from Montague and Leon. The Tigers scored the next point to take back the lead at 11-10. A kill from Clerkley started a 5-0 run to end the set and the day. Taylor recorded three kills in the final five points and Leon and Lostumo combined for the Herd's final block.

Marshall hits the road, Sept. 16-18, for its final early season tournament before beginning Conference USA play. It will be a short trip, west down I-64 to Morehead State. The Herd will play Morehead State (Sept. 16), No. 9 Pittsburgh (Sept. 17) and then finally against Toledo (Sept. 18).

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

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Volleyball Splits in Final Day of SEMO Invitational

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Team Stats

Ciara DeBell

Megan Taylor

Essence Clerkley

Lydia Montague

Players Mentioned

Brynn Brown

Meagan Camden

Essence Clerkley

Ciara DeBell

Zoie Holley

Destiny Leon

Sydney Lostumo

Eden McElhaney

Lydia Montague

Sarah Schank

Megan Taylor

Players Mentioned

Brynn Brown

Meagan Camden

Essence Clerkley

Ciara DeBell

Zoie Holley

Destiny Leon

Sydney Lostumo

Eden McElhaney

Lydia Montague

Sarah Schank

Megan Taylor

Marshall University Athletics