Southern Miss
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UTEP
Golden Eagle Volleyball Sweeps UTEP
10/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 22, 2011
EL PASO, Texas - Senior outside hitter Ashley Mell tallied her first 20-kill performance in leading Southern Miss past UTEP 3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-22) on Friday in Conference USA action.
Senior Amelia Hendrickson added 10 kills while senior Lisa Knecht led the way with 13 digs, defensively. Mell also chipped in 11 digs in collecting a double-double. Kelsea Keymour dished out 45 assists.
"This was a total team effort tonight," head coach Abbey Sutherland said. "They made the plays when it counted and were very composed. I'm very proud of their performance."
The Golden Eagles finished the night with a .248 hitting clip, 52 digs and 6.0 team blocks while UTEP (15-8, 5-5) had a .237 hitting clip, 42 digs and 9.0 team blocks.
Jacqueline Cason led the Miners with 12 kills and Xitlali added 11. Stephanie Figueroa led the team with 11 digs while Malia Patterson dished out 35 assists and had 10 digs.
Southern Miss opened the first set with a 2-0 lead before UTEP came right back for the 2-2 tie. After trading points for the next three points, Southern Miss scored five unanswered points for a 9-4 lead. The Golden Eagles were able to maintain the lead for the remainder of the set. UTEP cut the lead to two late in the set, 23-21, but the Mell tallied two of the final three kills for the 25-22 win.
In the second set, Southern Miss led 14-12 before the Miners used a 4-0 run in taking a 16-14 lead in forcing the Eagles to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, the teams traded kills for the first three possessions. After a minor error and Mell kill gave the Eagles an 18-17 lead, but UTEP tied the set on an Eagle error. The team traded service errors, but Bowden's kill put the Eagles up 20-19 and the Miners called a timeout. Out of the timeout, UTEP was able to capture five of the next eight points for the 24-23 lead. After the Southern Miss timeout, Halie Ecker came up with a kill to tie the set at 24-24 in holding off the first Miner set point. UTEP got set point again after Cason put down a kill, but a service error by the Miners tied the set again. UTEP had set point at 26-25, but another service error once again tied the set. Southern Miss' Sarah Jane Bowden got a kill and forced UTEP to call its final timeout, but the Eagles were able to come up with a big block to take the second set, 28-26.
UTEP got off to a 3-1 lead to start the third set. USM battled back to tie the set at 3-3. The set remained close for the next 20 points in battling to a 13-13 tie. The Eagles then got a block and Lauren Sears' ace to for the 15-13 lead. From there, USM was able to maintain the lead and led by as many as three points when UTEP called its first timeout. UTEP got the score to 20-19, before USM called a timeout and responded by scoring five of the final eight points in taking a 25-22 win.
Southern Miss returns home to host UCF on Sunday in a 1 p.m. match. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. (CT).
