University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
SMU
Volleyball Team Loses In First Round Of Conference USA Championship
11/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 16, 2006
HOUSTON, Texas -- -
 Nicole Rock records her first double-double with 13 kills and 10 blocks  | |
The Golden Eagles fell to SMU in five games, 3-2, (30-27, 28-30, 30-26, 30-32, 11-15) ending their season with a 15-18 record overall, a plus-nine improvement over last season.
"I am disappointed with the loss because I believed we had opportunities in all the games to win, but we just didn't finish," Head Coach Ricci Luyties said. "Overall, we played well considering we had two of our players hurt. Angela Hlavaty played some, but she was about 30 percent and Morgan Johnson did not play at all. Even with those two not playing, I believed we could have won the match."
Senior Nicole Rock led the way with 13 kills and 10 blocks, followed by Mari Ruddick with her second consecutive double-double of 13 kills and 11 digs. Junior Amanda Huntoon recorded a team-high 17 kills and Angela Hlavaty finished with 11 kills. Freshman Maia Ivanova posted a match-high 25 digs, followed by Cassie Lavery with 14 and Amy Flarity chipped in 11 digs.
SMU's Caitlin Rainbird posted 20 kills and 11 digs, followed by Rachel Giubilato with 18 kills and 22 digs, Natalie Peters had 16 kills and Kendra Kahanek had 11 kills. Candice Davis tallied 22 digs and Madison Hill had 11 digs.
Southern Miss took game one, 30-27, after scoring the last four points to close out the game. Hlavaty put down seven kills.
SMU won game two, 30-28, when the Mustangs scored five unanswered points to end game two. SMU fought back from a 28-25 deficit.
The Golden Eagles ended game three with a 6-0 run, taking game three 30-26. Southern Miss trailed by as many as seven points during the game.
Both teams battled back and forth in game four that was highlighted by 16 ties and six lead changes. After Southern Miss took a 30-29 lead, SMU then scored the last three points for a 32-30 win.
SMU carried its momentum into the fifth game. Southern Miss fought back to take a 7-5 lead, but SMU used a 7-2 run to take a 12-9 lead and never looked back in a 15-11 win.
Southern Miss returns 11 letterwinners for next season, including all six starters.
