Southern Miss
UCF
Southern Miss Volleyball Team Defeats UCF In Five, 3-2
9/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 29, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. -- -
 Morgan Johnson had team-high five blocks  | |
Southern Miss evened its record to 9-9 and 2-2 in league play, while UCF dropped to 5-10 and 1-3.
"We played well in stretches," Head Coach Ricci Luyties said. "Our team is finding ways to win in close games. That is a huge change from the couples of years. We still have a tendency to give away easy points, but in the end, we've been able to come up with the win."
Mari Ruddick recorded 11 kills and Angela Hlavaty added 10. Maia Ivanova had a season and match-high 28 digs. Amanda Blunck reached a milestone, recording 20 digs to become the 11th Lady Eagle volleyball player to record 1,000 digs in a career. Kristen Metz added 13 digs.
Four UCF players recorded double-doubles with Schanell Neiderword leading the way with 15 kills and 16 digs, followed by Lorin Lukas with 15 kills and 15 digs, Maina Heming had 14 kills and 18 digs and Leah Alexander had 38 assists and 16 digs.
Southern Miss won the first game 30-26, tallying 16 kills and only two attack errors for a .350 attack percentage. Ruddick and Amanda Huntoon registered four kills apiece.
UCF bounced back to win games two, 30-27, and game three, 30-23. The Lady Eagles had an attack percentage of .080 and .053, respectively.
Both teams battled back and forth in game four, keeping the game close through out. At one point, Southern Miss used a 7-1 run, taking a 21-18 lead. But UCF fought back to tie the game at 21-21. From there, there were seven ties. Southern Miss ended the game with two consecutive kills for a 30-28 win. Nicole Rock and Ruddick combined for 12 kills.
Southern Miss battled back from a 4-2 deficit in game five, using an 8-3 run to take a 10-7 lead. UCF got a kill from Heming to cut the lead to 10-8. Southern Miss then ran off five straight points for the 15-8 win.
The Lady Eagles return to action on Oct. 6 and Oct. 8, when they travel to Houston for matches at Rice and Houston.
