Southern Miss
Marshall
Volleyball Falls In Three To Marshall
10/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 22, 2009
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss volleyball team had its seven-match winning streak snapped with a 3-0 (25-21, 28-26, 25-17) loss to Marshall Thursday night.
The Golden Eagles fell to 20-4 overall and 8-2 in Conference USA, while Marshall improved to 18-5 and 6-3 in league play.
Ashley Mell led the way for Southern Miss, putting down a team-high 16 kills. Maia Ivanova tallied 23 digs followed by Lisa Knecht who chipped in 11.
Emily Sullivan led the Herd with 16 kills as well and Ryanne Millgan led the way defensively with 17 digs. Kristin Marcum recorded 13 digs and Elizabeth Fleming recorded a double-double with 41 assists and 10 digs.
"Obviously this wasn't our best match at all, we didn't play well," Coach Ricci Luyties said. "On the other side, I think Marshall played a great match. We knew they were a good team and they had given us trouble in the past and they do well against us. It's a little bit of our not playing well, but also Marshall playing really well. They did good things against us.
"With that being said, I believe there were moments in the second set when we had chances to put that set away and we ended up making errors on some balls that hurt us badly. We never recovered from that. It took us too long to adjust to what they were doing and a lot of times we were not ready. That was the most upsetting thing for me. Our players just have to get over this match and make sure that they are mentally ready in all aspects of the match for East Carolina."
The Marshall net play proved to be a big factor as the Herd finished the match with 10.0 team blocks that included six solos and eight block assists, while the Eagles netted on one team block. For the first time in seven matches, Southern Miss' opponent out-hit the Golden Eagles, .262 to .168.
" Southern Miss led early to open the first set, but Marshall rallied to tie the set at 4-4. The score was tied two more times before Marshall used a 10-4 run to push its lead to 16-10. Southern Miss made one final run to cut the lead to one, 21-20, but Marshall ended the set on a 4-1 run for a 25-21 win.
Marshall raced out to a 4-1 lead in the second set and continued to keep the pressure on offensively for a 10-5 lead. Following a Golden Eagle timeout, Southern Miss rallied and eventually tied the match at 17-17. From there, both teams traded points that led to nine ties down the stretch. Marshall got the last two points on a hitting error by the Eagles and ended the set with a Milligan ace for a 28-26 win.
Southern Miss scored the first two points to open the third stanza and eventually led 4-1 before Marshall knotted the set at 6-6. The teams traded points until Elizabeth Herman sparked a 4-0 run that gave the Herd the lead for good. Southern Miss got within three, 19-16, but Marshall ended the set with a 6-1 run.
Southern Miss remains at home, hosting East Carolina Sunday at 1 p.m.
