Southern Miss
East Carolina
Volleyball Eagles Blank The Pirates In Three
10/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 24, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss volleyball team captured a three-set win over East Carolina (25-15, 25-16, 25-21) Sunday afternoon in Reed Green Coliseum. The Golden Eagles improved to 13-9 and 6-5 in Conference USA while the Pirates fell to 1-21 and 0-10 in the league.
"Our team came out with a really good attitude today and they were ready to play," Coach Abbey Sutherland said. "Kelsea has had a lot of options to set the last couple of matches where we've been doing very well offensively. I am hopeful that all of the things we've accomplished in the past couple of weeks will carry over to the end of our season when we'll be on the road a lot."
Redshirt Junior outside hitter Ashley Mell led all players with 13 kills on .375 hitting as sophomore outside hitter Halie Ecker connected on 10. Junior middle blocker Sarah Jane Bowden notched six kills on .429 hitting.
Junior setter Kelsea Seymour recorded 32 assists as Lisa Knecht led the defense with a match-high 18 digs and Mell picked up 13 digs. Seymour and Ecker added in 11 and 10 digs, respectively, as Southern Miss out dug East Carolina, 62-56.
"Our passing game has been consistent," said Sutherland. "If we make a bad pass, we make sure on the next serve that we're going to get it up to Kelsea. Our defense has played well and I want to thank my assistants for their help in that area. We've had to focus on crossing patterns, making sure we were digging balls and not running into each other. It's nice to have Lisa in middle back because she does a nice job of reading. I'm really happy with her defense."
The first set remained close through the first seven points, until a kill from Seymour started a 4-0 run giving Southern Miss the 7-4 lead. Two put-aways from Amelia Hendrickson and Ecker and two ECU miscues pushed Southern Miss up 11-6 and forced the Pirates to take a timeout. The Eagles got two more points before a mishandled USM set, a Britney Roper kill and attack error cut the lead to 13-9. Following two kills from Mell, a USM service error, two back-to-back Seymour kills made it 18-10. Out of the ECU timeout, Mell recorded a stuff block while Lauren Sears and Mell added kills gave the Eagles a double-digit lead at 21-10. ECU got a point before three straight attack errors by the Pirates had the Eagles at set points, 24-12. However, the Pirates managed to put three more points on the board before Mell ended the set with a block for the 25-15 win.
Three kills and a block by Southern Miss put the Golden Eagles up 10-5 in the second set. The Eagles managed to keep at least a six point advantage through the middle portion of the set and led 17-9 forcing East Carolina to burn its second timeout. The Pirates responded with a Roper kill before a Bowden kill and an East Carolina hitting error pushed the score to 19-10. The Pirates kept pace with the Eagles as the team traded kills down the stretch, but USM held on for the 25-16 win.
Southern Miss started the third stanza with a 6-0 lead on three Ecker kills and three ECU hitting errors. ECU's Jackie Varnum put the Pirates on the board with a kill but Mell answered with a kill for the 7-1 lead. ECU cut the lead to 9-5 before consecutive kills by Mell and Ecker put the Eagles up 11-5. Following a Marina Gusman-Brown kill, USM responded with a Bowden kill and two Knecht service aces for the 14-6 lead. East Carolina kept close with timely kills from Varnum, Roper and Amanda Lutzow. Southern Miss eventually ran the score to 19-10 before the Pirates put together a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 19-14. The Pirates refused to go away eventually cutting the lead to just three points, 23-20, but Hendrickson came through with a kill and a kill by Ecker ended the match for the 25-21 win.
"These last wins have given us confidence heading out on the road," Sutherland said. "We can't any team lightly and we're going to make sure to be focused and still have the same goals by taking each match, one point at a time."
Southern Miss takes to the road and plays the next four matches, beginning with visits Memphis on Friday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m., and UAB on Sunday, Oct. 31, at 1 p.m.
