Southern Miss
Marshall
Golden Eagle Volleyball Sweeps Marshall in Three
10/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2011
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Southern Miss improved to 9-11 overall and 3-5 in league play while Marshall fell to 4-15 and 3-6.
Halie Ecker and Ashley led the way with 16 and 12 kills, respectively. Ecker finished the match with a .324 hitting clip while Mell topped that at .400. Kelsea Seymour handed out 40 assists on the afternoon and Lisa Knecht collected a team-high 16 digs.
"Our outsides had an outstanding performance," head coach Abbey Sutherland said. "They did a very good job of being smart. When the set wasn't quite there, they were good at making good shots and when they had the opportunity to get a kill, they went for it. I was really impressed with both Mell and Halie."
Southern Miss attacked at a .408 clip, while holding the Thundering Herd to .128. The Eagles posted a total of 49 kills, 54 digs and 9.0 total team blocks. Marshall recorded 38 kills, 48 digs and 8.0 team blocks.
"We have to keep working hard," Sutherland said. "In our league anyone can beat anyone and if we keep playing like we have, we could move up. Also Lisa did an outstanding job in the back court."
Cameron Yoho led the Herd with 10 kills while teammate Ryanne Milligan added 10 digs. Sammie Bane dished out 31 assists while Desirre Wilkerson tallied six total blocks.
After a 1-1 tie to start the first set, Southern Miss then ran off four straight points for a 5-1 lead in forcing Marshall to burn an early timeout. Laura Der posted a kill for the Herd in getting a point back. Sarah Jane Bowden sparked the run with a kill followed by a two Lauren Sears kills and a combo block from Sears and Amelia Hendrickson in pushing the lead to 9-2. Abby Tomas' kill ended the run before USM picked up the pace as Sears and Ecker put down three straight kills for a 12-3 lead. After committing back to errors, Marshall used its final timeout trailing 14-4. The teams traded points and got the score to 16-10 before the Eagles used a timeout to regroup. From there, USM was able to finish off the first set with a 9-6 run to take a 25-16 win.
The second set started with three early ties, but the Eagles never trailed. Ecker, Seymour and Sears game the Eagles a little breathing room with back-to-back kills and a combo block for the 6-3 lead. Southern Miss led 10-6 and forced the Herd to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, Bowden slammed down a kill for the 11-6 lead, but Yoho answered back with a kill of her own. The teams traded points for the next five points before Hendrickson's kill and Sears and Seymour block put the Eagles up 16-9. Out of the Marshall timeout, the teams battled evenly for the next 12 points with the Eagles holding a 21-16 advantage. Southern Miss ended the set with a 4-1 run for a 25-17 win.
The third set was an entirely different story for both squads as the lead changed hands three times and the score tied on eight occasions. The Golden Eagles fell behind for the first time, 2-0, to start the set. Mell's kill put the Eagles on the board and then Eagles got two points from two miscues from the Herd and an Ecker kill in taking a 4-2 lead. Tomas and Wilkerson had back-to-back kills to tie the set at 4-4. The teams traded kills for the next five possessions. Marshall committed a couple of errors that allowed the Eagles to take a 9-6 lead. The Herd followed with a Yoho kill and a service error before Mell connected on a kill for the 11-7 lead. Marshall came right back to tie the set at 13-13 using a 6-2 run. There was little momentum change out of the Southern Miss timeout as the two teams continued to trade points. After the Eagles posted back-to-back kills in gaining a 17-16 lead, Marshall called a timeout. Sears kept the offense going for the Eagles in putting down a kill and Mell had a solo stuff for the 19-16 lead. For the remainder of the set, the two teams battled back and forth. USM held a 23-20 lead but kills from Tomas and Yoho forced the Eagles to use their final timeout to break the Herd's momentum. Ecker answered with a kill, but Bane and Wilkerson put up a big block in fighting off set point, but Ecker got another chance and ended the set with a kill for the 25-23 win.
Southern Miss will play three matches three days when the Golden Eagles travel to Tulane on Wednesday (Oct. 19) then on to UTEP (Oct. 21) and finish the week with UCF at home (Oct. 23).
