University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Houston
Volleyball Falls to Houston in Four
10/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 10, 2010
HOUSTON, Texas -- The Southern Miss volleyball team lost its third straight road match, losing to Houston, 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 25-23), Sunday afternoon in Athletics/Alumni Center.
Ashley Mell led Southern Miss (8-9, 1-5) with 15 kills while Halie Ecker had 14. Four Golden Eagle players tallied double-digit dig totals as Ecker had 19, Kelsea Seymour had 13, Mell and Lisa Knecht had 10 apiece. Sarah Jane Bowden collected six blocks.
For Houston (11-8, 5-2), Ingrida Zauere led the Cougars with 16 kills followed by Lucy Charuk and Marluci Toazzi with 12 and 10, respectively. Amanda Carson led the team with 16 digs, followed by Zauere with 13 and Amber Brooks added 12.
As a team, Southern Miss had a .155 attack percentage with 49 kills and 34 errors in 142 attacks, while Houston hit .227 with 56 kills and 22 errors in 150 swings.
After falling behind early, 7-2, in the opening set, the Cougars got things going and pushed their lead to 17-10. The Golden Eagles then battled to get themselves back in the set, using a 7-1 run to get within 18-17. Sarah Jane Bowden literally had a hand in six of the points that included three kills and three blocks. Southern Miss eventually tied the set at 20-20, but Houston ended the set scoring the last five points for the 25-20 win.
Set two had a similar beginning as the Golden Eagles soared out to a 6-2 lead, but this time, Southern Miss would keep the Cougars at arms' length for most of the stanza. Houston cut the lead to five, 22-17, but Southern Miss stayed in control for a 25-18 decision.
Set three turned into a slugfest early as the two teams traded the first 18 points. With the score knotted up at 9-9, Houston then used a 5-2 rally to push its lead to three, 15-11. The surge would prove to be the difference as the Golden Eagles tried to fight back to stay in the set. Following a Southern Miss timeout, USM cut the lead to three, 15-12, but that was as close as the Cougars would allow as Houston took a 2-sets to one lead on a 25-20 victory.
After jumping out to a 4-0 lead to start the fourth set, Houston appeared to be in control before USM would score the next nine points for the 9-4 lead. It looked as if Eagles would force a fifth set, but the Cougars were able to rise to the challenge and tied the score at 9-all. Lauren Sears put down a kill to give the lead back to the Eagles, 10-9, but UH's Charuk answered right back to keep the set tied. With the set tied at 11-11, Houston got a block and two Zauere kills to give the Cougars a 14-11 advantage. USM tied the set again on a block, two kills and ace. The set would be tied six more times with the last coming at 23-23. UH's Toazzi ended the set and match on back-to-back kills for the 25-23 win.
Southern Miss returns home to face UCF on Friday at 7 p.m., and UTEP on Sunday at 1 p.m.
