Southern Miss
Marshall
Southern Miss Volleyball Team Outlasts Marshall, 3-2
10/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 22, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss volleyball team won for the fourth straight time with a 3-2 (22-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-11) come-from-behind victory against Marshall Friday night in Conference USA action.
Redshirt junior Ashley Mell led the Golden Eagles (12-9, 5-5) with 21 kills, while sophomore Halie Ecker and junior Lauren Sears contributed 17 and 15 kills respectively. The Golden Eagles had four players with double-digit digs led by Ecker who posted a career-high 23. Lisa Knecht recorded 17 digs, Elizabeth Rinaudo had 13 and junior setter Kelsea Seymour had 10. Junior Sarah Jane Bowden had a team-best seven total blocks. Seymour dished out 58 assists in the match.
The Golden Eagles finished the match with 70 kills on .244 hitting, while Marshall (9-12, 3-6) had 65 kills with a .222 attack percentage. Southern Miss posted 67 assists, 76 digs and 10.0 total team blocks. Marshall finished the night with 61 assists, 63 digs and 11.0 team blocks.
"When we went in at the intermission, I told our team that we could still win this match," coach Abbey Sutherland said. "We just needed to change a few things. We came out and played better. The first two sets I didn't think we played as a team. We began to work together and took it one point at a time and put it all together by the end of set three. We had to do a better job of seeing the hitters because Marshall was changing their lineup and doing some different things. We had to go back to basics and find their hitter blocking-wise and make sure they were seeing where they were going."
Marshall had a 4-2 lead to start the match, but back-to-back kills from Mell had the set tied at 4-4 was the first of 16 ties. The two teams battled back and forth as neither team could muster any more than a two point advantage for the next 32 points. Marshall led 21-19 after a kill from Kaitlin Holm and forced Southern Miss to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, Marshall had a service error, but the Herd got back to back kills from Kelley Bugler to put the Marshall up 23-20. After the second USM timeout, Sears put down a kill to get within 23-21, but Marshall was able to hold on for the 25-22 win.
Despite a kill and block giving Marshall an early 2-1 lead, the Eagles took control and worked to an 8-3 lead forcing Marshall to call an early timeout. The Herd managed to come within two, 10-8, with the Eagles continuing their steady play. Marshall appeared unfazed and stampeded ahead with a 6-2 run for a 14-12 lead. Out of the Southern Miss timeout, a Sears' kill got the Eagles within one, 14-13, but Herd continued their dominance of the second set and pushed their lead to eight, 23-15. Cameron Yoho and Holm secured the second set for Marshall, 25-18.
The Golden Eagles came out on fire in the third set. Marshall got the first point, but Seymour sparked a 5-0 run with a kill to give the Eagles a 5-1 lead. Southern Miss continued to dominate establishing an 8-4 lead when Marshall called a timeout. Southern Miss added another point off blocks by Bowden and Amelia Hendrickson. Southern Miss built as many as a six point lead on three occasions with the last coming at 16-10 when the Herd took advantage of three Eagles errors and added a kill to come within two of USM, 16-14. USM called a timeout and managed to tally another point before turning the ball over to the Herd. Marshall kept things close and trailed 21-19 when Bowden put down a kill, a bad set by the Herd and Elizabeth Herman error had USM at set point, 24-19. The Herd got a point back on a Yoho kill but Ecker was able to seal the win with a kill, 25-20.
Down 5-2 early in the fourth set, the Eagles went on a 5-1 run to take a 7-6 lead. USM's lead didn't last long as Marshall got three straight kills for the 9-8 advantage. The two teams traded points for the next four possessions. With USM trailing 11-10, the Eagles took control of the set and outscored Marshall, 5-1, for the 15-12 lead. A Marshall timeout did not allow the Herd to regroup as the Eagles added another point for a 16-12 lead. From there, Southern Miss got five kills from four different players in sending the match a fifth and final set with the 25-19 win.
USM jumped out to a 2-0 lead in set five before Marshall answered back with four straight points to take a 4-2 lead. A bad set by Marshall allowed the Eagles to tie the set at 4-4. A Golden Eagles error and Herd service error kept things all tied up at 5-5. The two squads traded points until Sears posted back to back kills for a 9-7 lead against the Herd and forced the Marshall timeout. Ecker notched another kill to push the Eagles' lead to 10-7 and Marshall burned its second timeout to slow the Eagles. Yoho responded with a kill out of the timeout, but Seymour and Ecker both recorded kills for a 12-8 lead. Marshall continued to stay close as Abby Tomas put down a kill and a USM attack error forced USM to take a timeout leading 12-10. An Ecker kill and a joint stuff from Mell and Bowden had USM at match point. The Herd managed one final point before Seymour closed out the night with the final kill of the match for the win, 15-11.
"Halie really stepped up especially in set five," Sutherland said. "She was being aggressive and smart. She had some key digs. I also think that Liz Rinaudo did a wonderful job. She had some great digs in crunch time digging the quick. She has played very well the last several matches and I'm so happy for her."
Southern Miss concludes its five-match homestand Sunday with a match against East Caroline. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
