Southern Miss
Northwestern State
Volleyball Eagles Defeat Northwestern State, 3-1
8/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2011
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss volleyball team bounced back from a 1-0 deficit in defeating Northwestern State, 3-1 (19-25, 25-13, 25-13, 25-11) in the opening match of Southern Miss Invitational Saturday.
Junior Halie Ecker led with 10 kills and 10 digs in recording her second double-double of the season. Lauren Sears collected nine kills and nine blocks while Lisa Knecht led the team with 18 digs. Setter Kelsea Seymour paced the Golden Eagle offense with 35 assists and finished with 17 digs. Amelia Hendrickson also tallied double digit digs with 12.
Southern Miss attacked at a .199 clip, while holding the Lady Demons to just .026. The Eagles finished the match with 45 kills, 45 assists, 67 digs and 14.0 total team blocks. Northwestern State totaled 38 kills, 38 assists, 68 digs and 5.0 team blocks.
Southern Miss started the set strong, popping out to a 6-1 lead before Northwestern State regrouped and went on a 12-4 for a 13-10 lead. The Golden Eagles cut the lead to 20-18, but the Lady Demons were too strong down the stretch and took set one, 25-19.
The two teams battled early in the second set producing seven ties before Southern Miss got a Seymour kill and a block by Sears and Hendrickson for the 9-7 lead. The Eagles continued to build on that lead as Southern Miss got timely kills from Sears, Hendrickson and Ecker for a 17-12 score. The Golden Eagles closed out the set with an 8-1 run for a 25-13 win.
The Golden Eagles off to a solid start in the third set, running out to a 9-1 lead. NSU fought back to cut the lead to 14-10, but the Eagles regrouped and pushed their lead to eight, 19-11, forcing NSU to call a time out. Following the timeout, the Eagles continued to roll behind Sears' tough service game. USM took the third set, 25-13.
Southern Miss found themselves up 5-1 courtesy of four attack errors by NSU and an Ecker kill. Southern Miss pushed the lead to 12-4 behind Schacher and Seymour kills. The Golden Eagles got plenty of help defensively as Bowden, Hendrickson and Schacher a combined seven blocks to push the lead to 23-9. Southern Miss took the final set, 25-11.
The Eagles will conclude with Jackson State in a 7 p.m. match.
