Herd Volleyball Drops Match to Belmont

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Belmont	25	25	22	25	3
Marshall	18	23	25	22	1

Belmont

Marshall

Box Score (PDF) | Championship Fund

DURHAM, N.C. – The Marshall University Volleyball Team (5-3) dropped its final contest in Durham, North Carolina, 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23) on Saturday to the Belmont Bruins.

"Tough weekend for us, but a lot of learning lessons for this young group," Herd Volleyball Head Coach Heather Stout said. "We have to clean up our first-ball contact and bring more tenacity and urgency to the defensive side of the net. It took us too long to establish an aggressive presence at the net from our pins. We are so sound and physical up the middle, but it's hard to showcase that when we aren't giving ourselves enough passing opportunities."

Maddie Smith led the Herd with 18 kills on 34 attacks and just three errors for a .441 hitting percentage. Emma Barnett (15), Logan Henderson (11) and Marae Reilly (11) joined Smith with double-figure kills.

"Proud of Kahea for running her 5-1 and helping get our offense confident and in rhythm," Stotu said. "That also created a big opportunity for Kylie to come off the bench and make an impact defensively, helping get us into a groove and changing the momentum of the match," We play a tough schedule for a reason—to prepare us for where we want to be later down the road. These are the learning moments that will make this group better. We will continue to lean into our training, and keep pushing forward."

Kahea Carvalho registered a season-high 46 assists as Reilly and Beatrice Ciccarelli each had four blocks.

The Herd took an early 3-1 lead in the first set after a kill by Henderson. The Bruins answered with a 5-0 run to take a 6-3 advantage. Belmont led the rest of the way taking the opening frame 25-18.

After falling by a narrow margin of 25-23, MU trailed 2-0 heading into the third. However, the Herd answered the call. Marshall never trailed in the frame and the score was only tied once at 1-1. MU held a lead as large as seven points at 19-12 after a kill by Reilly and forced a fourth set with a 25-22 triumph.

The fourth saw the two sides deadlocked at 14-14 through the first 28 points. While not trailing by more than three down the stretch, the Herd couldn't overcome the Bruins as it fell 25-22 in the fourth with Belmont taking the match.

"And there's no better opportunity than next week," Stout said. "Two big matches before SBC play starts. Time to get back to work."

UP NEXT
Marshall travels to Richmond, Kentucky, for a match at EKU on Tuesday.

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Players Mentioned

Emma Barnett

Kahea Carvalho

Beatrice Ciccarelli

Logan Henderson

Marae Reilly

Maddie Smith

Team Stats

Smith Maddie

Barnett Emma

Henderson Logan

Reilly Marae

Marshall University Athletics