Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
9-7,1-1Sun Belt
Old Dominion
9-7,1-1Sun Belt
Marshall Volleyball Earns Friday Sweep of Old Dominion
9/23/2023 12:20:00 AM | Volleyball
Giglio serves up clutch points; Brown adds 16 kills in Herd's 1st SBC win
Box Score | HC Ari Aganus Post-Match Interview
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall's Volleyball team showed off and showed out for the fans and the team's alumni on Friday night, earning a 3-0 sweep over Old Dominion at Cam Henderson Center.
To get the first Sun Belt win of the season, the team needed clutch efforts all around – none bigger than the service game of Bianca Giglio, who came in to serve some huge points to close out the sweep.
Marshall trailed 24-19 in the third set, and it appeared that ODU was going to continue the match, but Giglio subbed in for head coach Ari Aganus and staved off five straight set points, squeezing a pair of aces around a pair of block assists from Olivia Fogo and Essence Clerkley to bring things back to 24-all.
After ODU took a 25-24 lead to have another set point, the Thundering Herd used the momentum felt from Giglio's rally to close out the match with three straight points – the final point, fittingly, on an ace by Bella Thompson – to earn the 27-25 third set win.
"She won the game for us, there's no doubt," Aganus said of Giglio's performance. "She went in with poise, she went in with confidence and she did her job and then some. She was absolutely the game for us."
Giglio's performance was one of many big efforts on the evening as Marshall consistently made the plays needed to close out each set in what proved to be a competitive contest with the Monarchs.
The third set performance mirrored that of the third set when the teams went back and forth with neither team asserting themselves.
Old Dominion scored three straight points to go up 24-21 in the second and was on the brink of knotting up the match, but Giglio had other plans. Trailing 24-22 after an ODU attack error, Giglio served the Herd to three consecutive points.
The teams jockeyed for the set until a pair of ODU attack errors gave the Herd a 29-27 second set win and the critical 2-0 advantage in the match.
The tone for the match was set in the beginning as Marshall came out much stronger than its start in its Thursday night loss to the Monarchs.
"It was just a matter of understanding that it's there and we've got it," Aganus said. "We fought so hard last night, but we came out with confidence. We came out and said, 'You know what? We're down three? That's not stopping us. We're down how many ever in the last set? It's not going to stop us. We're going to keep doing it, limit our errors and start swinging.'"
Marshall used a big run, winning eight of 10 points after ODU had tied things at 7-all to distance itself from the Monarchs. ODU cut the deficit to three on several occasions, but each time, the Thundering Herd came up with a big answer en route to a 25-22 win.
While Giglio handled the service game in big situations, the constant on the night was Brynn Brown, who finished with 16 kills and a team-best .400 attack percentage while dishing out 18 assists.
"She's the whole package," Aganus said. "Brynn's able to bring a lot of points in for us. She's able to score, but she's also able to block, dig – she just does it all. She's an impressive piece."
Marshall also got 12 kills from Lydia Montague in the victory. The Thundering Herd now sets its sights on Georgia State where the team will meet the Panthers at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the first of two matches in Atlanta.
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