Marshall Volleyball Preview
By Shane Darling, FM88 Sports
Nov. 5, 2025
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) — Marshall Volleyball is coming off a crucial two-game series sweep over the Old Dominion Monarchs, and this leaves the Herd needing just one Sun Belt Conference East Division win to make it back to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The Thundering Herd (14-11, 6-6 SBC) now sits at fifth in the SBC East, and it sets to host the sixth place Appalachian State Mountaineers (13-10, 4-8) for a two-game series with the first game on Thursday and the second on Friday.
The Herd is aware that it only needs one win this weekend to get back to postseason play, but Beatrice Ciccarelli, Marshall’s Italian senior co-captain, isn’t limiting the team to play for just one win.
“Making it to the conference tournament, that’s our goal,” Ciccarelli said. “We don’t even want to split, our goal is to win both games. Our coaches prepared us, we know the gameplan, so we’re going to play with confidence and be ready to win both games.”
Ciccarelli leads the Thundering Herd this season with 88 blocks and is second on the squad in kills with 196.
Marshall is on a roll as it has won five of its last six matchups. First-year head coach Heather Stout said the team is coming together to work hard at the right time, and with the right mindset.
“I think our lineup has been flowing really well consistently… Offensively they were playing with a no fear mentality, which is great. It made us confident behind our swings,” Stout said. “Honestly, how we’ve been practicing… We’ve been doing a lot to challenge them in practice so that they’ve been prepared on the weekend.”
Going into the matchup with the Mountaineers, Stout said the true battle comes within the heads of her players.
“I think the gameplan doesn’t really change for us. I want us to be confident, I want us to be aggressive,” Stout said. “Trusting their selves, trusting their teammates, trusting their training that they’ve done throughout the week. We need to come out with a mentality of being on top.”
The Thundering Herd missed out on postseason play last season as it came last in the Sun Belt East Division. Marshall was picked to come last in the East once again this year in the preseason coaches poll. However, Stout was able to turn things around in her first season at the helm, yet she gives all the credit to her team and their belief.
“I was very blessed with the returning players. They bought in, they knew the expectations that I had with what we thought this program could do,” Stout said. “And now we get to create our own destiny of if we get to play in the next three weeks or if we get to be at home, and I think the buy-in is there… I have full expectation that we’re going to be playing.”
Marshall Volleyball, just one win away from redeeming itself and earning the right to play on in the postseason.
You can tune in to the action this weekend on 88.1 WMUL-FM and online at Stream 1 at www.marshall.edu/wmul. FM88 Sports’ Shane Darling and Connor Brown will have the call on Thursday with pregame coverage beginning at 12:45 p.m. and first-serve at 1 p.m. Friday’s game is scheduled for 4 p.m., FM88 Sports’ Connor Brown and Ethan Patrick will have pregame coverage starting at 3:45 p.m.