MU Volleyball is more than....
bumpin'.... settin'..... and spikin'....
From the Parthenon Archives by ROBERT McCUNE, reporter
Marshall's Thundering Herd volleyball team took one last trip on the Southern Conference regular season roller coaster last weekend. Next stop, the conference tournament.
In a weekend of ups and downs, the Herd broke even after two matches with one win and one loss to finish its last regular season in the Southern Conference.
Marshall went up against Tennessee-Chattanooga for the regular season conference championship Friday and lost in five games.
The Herd went on to defeat the Western Carolina Catamounts in three games Sunday.
"Friday was a real heartbreaker," freshman Jessica
DeGraaf said. "For a side out team, we couldn't even side out for a
match point. We'll have to look beyond that going into the tournament."
The Herd took the first game against UTC 15-10, but the Moccasins dominated in the second game to win 15-2. UTC kept up its momentum in the third game and won 15-6. The Herd fought back to take a 15-13 victory in the fourth game, but lost 16-14 in the fifth to finish the match.
Sophomore co-captain Alisha Bable led the team with 19 kills against UTC.
DeGraaf contributed with 12 kills and sophomore Jenni Corbin had 11 kills. Freshman Nicole Frizzo had 18 digs against the Mocs.
"I think that we went into the match over anxious. I could tell that everyone was excited. We just lacked that extra effort," sophomore Michelle Sammarco said. "I don't know if it was just being over conscious, but we didn't play our full-out game. I feel that we played real hard, but they just had that extra push on us at the end."
Coach Bob Evans said, "We lost because we made errors. UTC was up for us. They didn't change line-ups much. They didn't change their defensive formations. They just played harder. Their defense played much better than they did the first time we played them. The first time we played them, they dropped the ball and didn't go after them as much. This time, they went after them and I think that it frustrated our hitters some. "
The Herd may have lost some of its confidence after the loss to UTC, but hopes that a win against Western Carolina will give them a boost going into the conference tournament.
Marshall defeated the Catamounts after just three matches Sunday. The Herd was victorious in the first game 15 - 1 0 over Western Carolina. In the second game, Marshall defeated the Catamounts 15-9. The Herd finished the third game and the match with a score of 15-10.
DeGraaf led the team with 16 kills against Western Carolina. Corbin and Bable contributed with nine kills each. Sammarco had six kills.
"It was nice to beat them in three and get out of there. Last time we went four against them," DeGraaf said. "This win helped to boost our confidence a little. If everything goes like it should, we'll play Georgia Southern in the first round of the tournament and that will get our confidence up, too."
Sammarco said, "We wanted to end it in three. We took out all of our frustrations from Friday on Western Carolina. Since the match against UTC, we've improved ourselves."
With the results, Marshall was tied with UTC for first place in the regular
season conference. Davidson defeated UTC Sunday to give
Marshall the
Southern Conference Championship outright.
The regular season title is the first ever for the Herd.
The Herd will be the top seed going into the SC Tournament scheduled Friday, Nov. 22, through Sunday, Nov. 24, in Statesboro, Ga. Marshall is scheduled to play Georgia Southern in the first round at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Last season the Herd won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.
"If nothing else, this weekend showed us that we're going to have to work in the tournament. Nothing is going to be given to us. "The conference is playing better overall and we've got to step it up," Evans said.
Sammarco said, "I think we've achieved getting over a lot of ups and downs. "It's been like a roller coaster this year. I think now that it's time to go into the tournament, we're able to overcome obstacles we've been working on all season, and that will put us over the top."
Bable set a school record for the most kills in one season with 502 breaking the old record of 482 set by Kellie Beckelheimer-Hicks in 1991. She was also named the SC player of the week for week 10 of the season.
Juanita Venable, a sophomore middle blocker, was named to the second team all SC squad.
Jessica DeGraaf was selected as the league's freshman of the
year. She is the first Marshall player to be named to this honor.
Marshall finished the season with a 21-13 record and a SC regular season championship, the first in school history. The volleyball team returns all of its players next season.
Thundering Herd volleyball player Alisha Bable has beeen named the Southern Conference player of the week. Bable, a sophomore from Waterford, Ohio, is the first Herd player to win the award this season.
She led the Herd to two wins against SC foes East Tennessee State and Appalachian State, during the weekend. Against ETSU Bable hit an errorless .531 with 17 kills. Against Appy St., she hit .321 with 22 kills.
The win against Appalachian State marked the first time in Marshall history that the Thundering Herd has defeated the Mountaineers in both Huntington and Boone, N.C., in the same season.
Coach Bob Evans said, "Alisha Bable had a tremendous weekend, only having four hitting errors. She has become a smart hitter, not only having power, but also shots with it. She is a definite leader on this team."
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