Volleyball Begins Conference USA Play at No. 22 WKU

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Marshall volleyball team gets rolling in Conference USA action on the road against the defending league champions, No. 22 WKU Hilltoppers. The teams will play two matches with the first on Friday at 7 p.m. ET, and the second set for Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

The Thundering Herd is 4-9 overall while the Hilltoppers come in at 11-1. The matches will be streamed on HSSN on Facebook, with links below.

Match Details
Marshall Match Notes (PDF)
Friday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. ET
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM
Saturday, Sept. 25 at 1 p.m. ET
LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM
Series History: 17 all-time meetings – WKU leads 15-2
Last Meeting: Feb. 28-March 1, 2021 – WKU won 3-0 & 3-1 in Huntington

Last Time Out: Herd Defeats Morehead State, Falls to #4 Pitt & Toledo
The Herd traveled to its final early season tournament with a short trip down I-64 to Morehead, Ky. Marshall started with a five-set win over the host Eagles. The Herd won the first set and then lost the next two to trail 2-1. Marshall came storming back dominating the fourth and fifth sets to earn the win. Ciara Debell had 19 kills with Megan Taylor and Macy McElhaney adding 12 each. Destiny Leon tallied six total blocks and Sarah Schank recorded her first double-double of the year with 22 digs and 12 assists. Sydney Lostumo had 42 assists to go along with career-highs of 17 digs and five total blocks.

Marshall fell in three sets to the 4th-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. However, the Herd kept getting a little better as the match went on showing more fight against Pittsburgh. Leon tallied five total blocks in the loss.

The Herd then lost in four sets to the Toledo Rockets. Marshall won the first set before the Rockets roared back to take the next three. Debell tallied 19 kills again and was the only Herd in double-figures. Schank rang up a season-high 34 digs including 12 in the second set. Lostumo recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 34 assists and 11 digs.

Countdown to the 1,000 Digs Club: Sarah Schank
Senior Sarah Schank has been working her way up rapidly to reach the 1,000 Digs Club at Marshall. Not bad for a player who started her first two seasons in Huntington as an outside hitter. Even though Schank was on the outside those first two years, she still finished with 428 digs by the end of her sophomore year. Schank made the switch to libero as a junior after the graduation of 1,000 Digs Club member Amber Weber (1,272). After waiting through the fall due to COVID, Schank finally got the chance to start in her new position and showed that she was up for the challenge with a record-setting day. Schank tallied 40 digs in the season-opener at Xavier, breaking the Herd record of 37, set by Wendy Williams (1,280 career digs) back on Oct. 9, 1999 vs. Akron. Schank rolled on through the rest of the season finishing the year with a career-high 274 digs and averaging 4.81 digs per set, third-best in team history, and was named the Conference USA Libero of the Year. So far in the fall of 2021, Schank has already surpassed her old career-high with 275 digs through 13 matches. She stands at 977 in her career, needing just 23 more to become the 14th member of the 1,000 Digs Club.

1,000 Digs Club
Maggie Arias (2004-07)                 1,758
Allie Kellerman (2013-16)              1,671
Dorothy Rahal (2010-13)               1,662
Bridget Repsher (1991-94)            1,428
Stephanie Cahill (2004-07)            1,316
Wendy Williams (1997-00)           1,280
Amber Weber (2017-19)                1,272
Laura Der (2010-13)                         1,255
Jenni Corbin (1995-98)                   1,231
Alisha Bable (1995-97)                    1,185
Jodi Fick (1999-02)                           1,114
Ashley Barnard (2000-03)              1,100
Jessica Downs (1996-99)                1,046

Graduate Ciara Debell leads the Herd offensively with 185 kills and 3.30 per set. This past weekend in Morehead, Debell moved from eighth all-time at Marshall to fourth in career kills. She has 1,245 in her time the with Herd and 1,331 in her collegiate career. Debell is also second on the team in digs this season with 158.

Fifth-year senior Destiny Leon has been piling up the blocks again with 71 total to lead Conference USA and is second in the NCAA. Leon is second on the team in kills with 100 and leads with a .321 hitting percentage.

Fellow fifth-year senior Sydney Lostumo leads Marshall with 442 assists as well as 20 aces. Lostumo has 1,487 assists during her time with Marshall and needs just five to move ahead of Christin Bimberg (2003-07) and into the top 10 in program history. Lostumo's collegiate career total stands at 1,879, needing just another 121 to reach 2,000. She had 392 in two seasons at Fresno State.

Junior Lydia Montague has 55 blocks, good for second on the team, fourth in the conference as well as 24th in the NCAA. Senior Macy McElhaney (33) and Essence Clerkley (30) both have at least 30 blocks this season as well. Marshall is averaging 2.66 blocks as a team, good for 28th in the NCAA. However, the Herd leads the nation in total blocks with 149.

Following Marshall's two matches at WKU, the Herd will finally return to the Cam Henderson Center for its first home contests since Aug. 28. Marshall is set to take on Middle Tennessee, Oct. 1-2.

The Opponent
The Lady Hilltoppers have been looking to pick up right where the squad left off at the end of the 2020-21 season. WKU, who advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, has suffered only one loss, and dropped just five sets all season. The only loss came in four sets to Ole Miss on Sept. 10. The Ladytoppers have played its last six matches all at home including a three-match sweep, Sept. 17-18, against Ohio, Austin Peay and St. John's.

Lauren Matthews has been dominant yet again with 163 kills, an average of 4.18 per set, and is hitting .441 to lead C-USA. Matthews also has 49 blocks, averaging 1.26 per set. Paige Briggs is second on the team with 121 kills and leads in aces with 14. Nadi Dieudonne has 430 assists and is averaging 11.03 per set to lead the conference. Logan Kael leads WKU in digs (106) by a slim margin over Briggs (104).

WKU leads the conference with a team attack percentage of .304. The Ladytoppers are allowing opponents a .137 attack percentage, also best in the league. WKU is averaging 2.62 blocks per set.

Following the matches with the Herd, WKU will head on the road for the first time since Sept. 4. The Ladytoppers will be at FIU, Oct. 1-2.

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

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Volleyball Begins Conference USA Play at No. 22 WKU

Players Mentioned

Essence Clerkley

Ciara DeBell

Destiny Leon

Sydney Lostumo

Macy McElhaney

Lydia Montague

Sarah Schank

Megan Taylor

Marshall University Athletics