University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Rice
Volleyball Takes Down Rice in Four
9/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - After dropping the first set, the Southern Miss volleyball team bounced back to take the final three sets in defeating Rice, 3-1 (17-25, 25-23, 25-17, 26-24) in Conference USA action Saturday night in Reed Green Coliseum.
The Golden Eagles are now 8-5 overall and evened their record at 1-1 in league play, while Rice dropped to 7-8 and 2-1.
Ashley Mell tallied a match-high 24 kills with teammates Halie Ecker and Amelia Hendrickson chipping in 16 and 10 kills, respectively. Lisa Knecht recorded a match-high 25 digs. Kelsea Seymour finished with 50 assists.
"I thought tonight's win was a total team effort," Head Coach Abbey Sutherland said. "I thought Kelsea did a great job of running our offense and spreading the ball around. Mell came up with some big kills. I thought the team responded well under pressure. You have to give Rice a lot of credit because they are a tough team. Their defense was incredible because they got up a lot of balls that I thought were kills.
Rice opened the first set popping out to a 4-1 lead before Hendrickson got a kill to end the Rice run, but Rice got back-to-back kills to push its lead to 6-2. Southern Miss fought back to get with 7-6, but that was as close as the Eagles would get in the remainder of the set. The Owls pushed their lead to 22-11 and cruised to a 25-17 win.
The Eagles took a 2-0 lead to start the second set on kills by Lauren Sears and Mell. Rice quickly tied the set at 2-2 before USM used a 3-1 run for a 6-3 led. Rice tied the set scoring three consecutive points. From there, the two teams battled back and forth, producing five ties. With the set tied at 12-12, Rice got back-to-back kills by Jordan Meredith and Megan Shepard and a USM miscue for a 15-12 lead. After a USM timeout, the Eagles responded with two kills, two blocks and a Rice error in taking a 17-15 led and forcing Rice to take a timeout. The two teams continued to trade points down the stretch. With the set tied at 22-22, Mell recorded a kill and Sears added an ace for the 24-22 lead. Rice called its second time and responded with a McCord Kill, but Mell ended the set with a kill for the 25-23 win to even the match 1-1.
"Lisa Knecht really took control of the back row," said Sutherland. "Amelia had a solid all-around match tonight. Her blocking and hitting kept us in the tight sets and gave us momentum."
Coming out of the intermission, Southern Miss took a 4-4 tie and outscored the Owls 8-1 in taking a 12-5 lead, forcing Rice to take both timeouts during that run. Southern Miss was able to maintain at least a six-point advantage for the remainder of the set in taking a 25-17 win.
The fourth set featured 10 ties and only two lead changes. With the scored tied at 6-6, Rice put together a 7-3 run for a 13-9 lead forcing USM to take a timeout. The Eagles began chipping away at the Owl lead and finally tied the set at 17-17. Rice got back-to-back kills for a 19-17 lead but Hendrickson answered with a kill to keep the Eagles within one. Rice was able to maintain its two-point heading into the final stretch. Rice had a 23-21 lead when USM took its final timeout and the Eagles responded with a kill by Ecker and Mell to tie the set at 23-all. After Rice took a timeout, Meredith gave Rice a 24-23 lead with a kill, but Mell answered back with a kill to keep the set tied. Ecker then put down a kill to give the Eagles a 25-24 lead. One the final possession, both teams battled and kept the ball in play until Seymour finally got the ball to find the floor for the 26-24 win.
McCord led Rice with 19 kills while Meredith and Cole added 13 and 11 kills, respectively. Tracey Lam had 20 digs and Meredith Schamun had 52 assists for the Owls.
The Golden Eagles return to action when they host Tulsa, Oct. 1.
