University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Tulane
Southern Miss Grabs Top Spot Downing Tulane, 3-2
10/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2009
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The battle for the top spot in Conference USA came down to a five-set match Wednesday night as Southern Miss and Tulane faced off at Fogelman Arena with the Golden Eagles earning a 3-2 win over the Green Wave.
Southern Miss improves to 17-3 and 5-1 in C-USA, while Tulane drops to 9-6, 4-2. The win was the first against Tulane since Nov. 8, 2003 and the first in Fogelman since Sept. 19, 1998.
Ashley Mell led a balanced scoring attack for Southern Miss with 16 kills followed by Angela Hlavaty with 15, Sarah Jane Bowden and Caitlin Clarke added 11 kills each. Maia Ivanova led the back row defense with 18 digs and Lisa Knecht and Kelsea Seymour tallied 13 apiece. Hlavaty also added 12 digs. Mell chipped seven total blocks with Bowden adding six.
"Angela had her best match of the year with 15 kills, hit a high percentage and had a bunch of blocks which helped us out a lot," Coach Ricci Luyties said. "She also came through with12 digs. I was really happy with that. All of our players had their times of playing well and it showed up by us having four people in double digit kills. I thought it was a team effort. When we were down two sets to one, our team has not quit all season and I'm really proud of that."
Southern Miss opened the first set running out to a 6-2 lead. The Golden Eagles eventually pushed the lead to 13-5, after two consecutive Seymour aces. With Southern Miss leading 15-8, Tulane put together a 7-2 run, cutting the lead to two, 17-15. The teams traded points, keeping the margin within two, until Southern Miss closed out the set with a 6-4 run for a 25-21 win.
Tulane started the second set scoring the first three points, taking advantage of Golden Eagle hitting errors. Southern Miss battled back to cut the lead to one, 7-6, before the Green Wave pushed the lead back to four, 10-6, after a ball handling error and attack error and kill by the Green Wave. Tulane maintained its lead until the Golden Eagles used a 6-1 to tie the set at 15-15. Tulane regained the lead back-to-back kills on its way 25-21 win.
The Green Wave struck first in opening the third set, putting the first two points on the board with a kill and block. Tulane led 4-2 until Southern Miss rallied to take a 6-5 lead on a 4-1 run. The Eagles pushed their lead to three, 9-6, maintaining a three-point advantage until the Green Wave went from 13-10 down to tie the set at 17-17 after an 8-4 run. Tulane finally grabbed the lead, 19-18, on two consecutive kills, then, held off the Eagles for a 25-22 win.
Southern Miss raced out to a 7-2 lead to start the fourth stanza. The Golden Eagles led by as many as 10 points late, 20-10, but Tulane rallied to cut the lead to just five points, 23-18, but USM was able to hold on for the 25-20 win to force a fifth set.
Tulane scored the first point to start the fifth set, then, Southern Miss out scored the Green Wave, 7-2, taking a 7-3 lead. Following the second Tulane timeout, the Green Wave fought back to get within two points, 8-6. Clarke put down a kill to give the Eagles a 9-6 advantage, but the Green Wave came right back for the on a Visnja Djurdjevic kill. Southern Miss, then, ran off five straight points for a 14-7 lead. However, Tulane did not go down quietly as the Green Wave got two kills from Djurdjevic and Lindsey Shepard to get within 14-9. Clarke finally sealed the win with a kill to end the set, 15-9.
Tulane got a match-high 25 kills from Djurdjevic and Jenn Miller turned in a match-high 23 digs. Rachel Lindelow had 56 assists.
Southern Miss returns to action when the Eagles travel to UTEP for a Sunday match.
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