University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Akron
Golden Eagle Volleyball Outlasts Akron, 3-2
9/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 10, 2011
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Southern Miss volleyball team battled back from a 2-1 deficit to take a 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 22-25, 25-16, 15-10) win over Akron in snapping a five-match losing streak.
"I really happy with the way the team performed today," Coach Abbey Sutherland said. "A lot of players contributed to the win. It was a total team effort."
Senior Ashley Mell paced the team with a team-high 13 kills while three other Eagles tallied double figure kills as Halie Ecker had 12, Amelia Hendrickson was next with 11 and Lauren Sears chipped in 10.
"I was pleased that we had four players with double figure kills," Sutherland said. "We made much better decisions about our shot selection which resulted in us having a higher number of kills and a better hitting percentage."
Senior libero Lisa Knecht collected a match-high 26 digs with Alex Pfefferle adding 16, Elizabeth Rinaudo and Hendrickson had 13 digs apiece.
"Lisa, Elizabeth and Alex did a remarkable job in the backcourt," said Sutherland. "They never quit on the balls and were able to keep them in play."
Kelsea Seymour and Kristen Fleming directed the Golden Eagle offense with a combined 52 assists.
The Zips won the blocking battle, 15.0 to 13.5, as Southern Miss was led by Sears with seven blocks. Mell recorded four stuffs.
For Akron, Courtney Jarvis tallied a match-high 16 kills while Alex Cocklin added 13 kills. Cocklin Akron with 15 digs as Jarvis and Jill Paluch had 14 and Chelsea Harvey chipped in 13. Paiton Twitty tallied 10 blocks to lead Akron.
Two Southern Miss errors started the fifth set off giving Akron the 2-0 lead. After falling behind 3-1, Southern Miss then scored three straight points to take a 4-3 lead. The Zips tied the set at 4-4 on a Twitty kill before the Golden Eagles got kills from Mell, Ecker and Hendrickson for the 7-4 lead and an Akron timeout. Out of the timeout, Akron closed the gap to 7-6 but the Eagles raced back to a 10-6 lead. The teams traded points but the Eagles were able to take the final set as Fleming and Mell put down the kills for the 15-10 win.
Southern Miss took the opening set, 25-21, when the Eagles out hit Akron .270 to .161. Akron came back to take the second and third sets, holding the Eagles to .140 and .135 attack percentage, respectively. Southern Miss tied the match with a decisive 25-16 win to force a fifth set.
Mell earned all-tournament honors after finishing the tournament with 34 kills and 13 total blocks.
The Golden Eagles will play in their fourth tournament of the season when they travel to Houston, Texas, for the Houston Baptist Tournament, Sept. 16-17.
