University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Volleyball prepares for weekend tourney in New Orleans
9/7/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Three weeks, three tournaments for the Southern Miss volleyball team. This time, it is a trip down south to Tulane for matches against Oklahoma, Nicholls and the host Green Wave.
The action begins Friday at 7 p.m. against Tulane, which will include streaming capabilities on its web site. Saturday features a 10 a.m. tilt against Oklahoma with a 4:30 p.m. conclusion versus Nicholls. Other tournament coverage and updates can be found via Twitter (@SouthernMissVB) and Facebook (Southern Miss Volleyball). Saturday morning's contest can be followed on TheScore 1400 AM as well in the Hattiesburg area.
Southern Miss (7-2) is coming off a Tuesday sweep of ULM. As of Wednesday, the Black and Gold were one of 15 teams in the nation to rank in the top-40 for both offensive (23) and defensive hitting percentage (40) with .280 and .147 clips, respectively.
Sarah Bell also ranks No. 25 in the nation with 11.29 assists/set, and Kylie Grandy's 0.50 assists/set lead C-USA.
The Golden Eagles have posted a winning record in nine of their 10 tournaments since the start of the 2015 season. The team's last trip to the Crescent City came on Sept. 9, 2014 in a sweep of the New Orleans Privateers.
Oklahoma is led by head coach Santiago Restrepo, who was at the helm of the Southern Miss program from 2001-03. During his time in Hattiesburg, he steadily improved the program by winning nine, 16 and then 27 matches by his third and final season. The Sooners are 1-5 this season with two, five-set defeats.
Southern Miss' first match of the year came against Nicholls, which was a sweep on Aug. 25 inside Reed Green Coliseum. The Golden Eagles hit .424 with help from Bell's 40 assists. Ashley Berry, Kylie Grandy and Chandler Marshall each had double-digit kills, and Madison Lawler's 10 digs in her collegiate debut were a team-high. The Colonels just picked up their first win of the season their last time out against Mississippi Valley State.
Tulane defeated the Golden Eagles in five sets on the second day of the 2016 Southern Miss Invitational. The Green Wave (5-2) have had four matches against mutual opponents this season, splitting a doubleheader with UL Lafayette and winning back-to-back against South Alabama.
The Green Wave boast the nation's No. 35 defense (.145 hitting percentage allowed), which is two points higher than the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss does have the upper hand offensively thus far (.280-.223). That aforementioned 2016 matchup between the teams saw Southern Miss post 11 aces, with five coming from Grandy and another three via Natalie Druhan.
Golden Eagle freshman defensive specialist/libero Melanie Miller's mother played for Tulane as well.
