Volleyball Team Enters Tournament as the Top Seed
11/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2009
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss volleyball team heads into the 2009 Conference USA Volleyball Championship as the regular season champions and No. 1 seed and will play No. 8 seed Houston in the first round, beginning Friday Nov. 20 at Rice University.
The Golden Eagles made history becoming the first volleyball squad to win a regular season title in the program's 30-year history. The 14 league wins are the most since 2003 when Southern Miss finished 11-2 and was the No. 3 seed. Southern Miss is 5-13 in tournament play, advancing to the second round in six tournaments.
Head Coach Ricci Luyties has recorded his best record at Southern Miss and is in his sixth season. He returned two seniors, one junior, and eight sophomores from last year's team to go with four freshmen. Southern Miss (26-4, 14-2) finished strong down the stretch, winning 13 of its last 14 matches, including the last six. The Golden Eagles are coming off a 3-1 win against UCF, Nov. 13, to claim the title outright. Ashley Mell recorded her 13th double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs. Sarah Jane Bowden tallied 13 kills, followed by Angela Hlavaty with 10 kills and 14 digs. Kelsea Seymour finished with 49 assists and 17 digs, while Maia Ivanova recorded her 12th 20-dig performance with 23. The Golden Eagles registered 13.0 team blocks.
Six players have recorded at least 100 or more kills this season, led by Mell with 366, followed by Caitlin Clarke with 309, Bowden 226, Hlavaty 202, Lauren Sears 177 and Seymour with 100. Seven Eagles have an attack percentage over .200. Bowden leads the group with a .294 clip. Ivanova has led the team in digs for the past four seasons. She became the all-time leader at Southern Miss and moved over the 1,900 mark.
The Golden Eagles own a .231 attack percentage, while averaging 13.39 kills and 16.13 digs per set. The team has recorded 121 aces and 265.5 blocks.
Houston comes in the tournament with a 9-22 record overall and 6-10 in league play. Kinsey Cave leads the team with 373 kills (3.39 kps) followed by Jasmine Terry with 210. Tara Roenicke has handed out 1,016 assists (9.58 aps) and Amanda Carson has registered 461 digs to lead the team.