Herd Volleyball Survives ULM Comeback in SBC Tournament First Round

Box Score

FOLEY, Ala. – The Marshall University volleyball team (10-19) survived a comeback by the ULM Warhawks (7-25) to take its 2022 Sun Belt Conference Tournament First Round match in five sets (25-19, 25-17, 17-25, 21-25, 15-13) in Foley, Alabama, on Wednesday.

"Survive and advance is all that matters this week," Herd head coach Ari Aganus said. "It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but ULM pushed us and executed really well against us. Macy was a staple for us and offensively we did well, but have to pick up our defense and first ball contact in order to get ready for South Alabama."

Graduate student Macy McElhaney led the way with a team-high 18 kills while adding nine digs.

With 40 assists and 12 digs, sophomore Brynn Brown earned her 13th double-double of the season.

Junior Regan Tinkle recorded 17 kills as senior Lydia Montague had 13 and a match-high seven blocks. Graduate student Kaitlyn Gehler came up with a team-high 15 digs.

Marshall trailed by as many as four points in the opening set and was down 15-14 at the media timeout. Out if the timeout, MU used kills by Tinkle, McElhaney and Brown along with a ULM attacking error to go a 4-0 rally to take an 18-15 advantage and force a Warhawk timeout. The Herd didn't relinquish the lead the rest of the way and ended the set on a 4-0 run to take the opener 25-19. Marshall committed just one attacking error in the set and had a .519 hitting percentage.

ULM took an early 1-0 lead, but it would be the only time Marshall trailed during the second set. The Herd cruised to a 25-17 victory in the second set with senior Essence Clerkley capturing a pair of kills in the final three points. MU put up a .440 hitting percentage in the second frame.

The Warhawks flipped the script taking the third set 25-17 and the fourth 25-21 to force a fifth set. In the all deciding fifth set, the Herd trailed the majority of the set and were down 11-10. However, a pair of Montague kills and a ULM attacking error gave Marshall a 13-11 advantage. MU hung on for a 15-13 set victory to seal the match on a kill by McElhaney.

UP NEXT
Marshall is set for a second round matchup against South Alabama on Thursday at 6 p.m. EST/5 p.m. CST.

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

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Herd Volleyball Survives ULM Comeback in SBC Tournament First Round

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Team Stats

Macy McElhaney

Regan Tinkle

Lydia Montague

Essence Clerkley

Players Mentioned

Brynn Brown

Essence Clerkley

Kaitlyn Gehler

Macy McElhaney

Lydia Montague

Regan Tinkle

Marshall University Athletics