{"id":4109,"date":"2025-09-08T20:01:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T00:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/?p=4109"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:24:02","slug":"marshall-volleyball-hosts-eastern-kentucky-in-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/2025\/09\/08\/marshall-volleyball-hosts-eastern-kentucky-in-home-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall Volleyball Hosts Eastern Kentucky in Home Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Marshall Volleyball Preview<br \/>\nBy Connor Brown, FM88 Sports<br \/>\nSept. 8, 2025<br \/>\nHUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) \u2014 The Marshall Volleyball Team returns to the Cam Henderson Center on Tuesday where it will host Eastern Kentucky in its 2025 home opener. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>The Thundering Herd (4-2) opened the season with momentum, claiming a 3-0 weekend at the Highlander Invitational before battling through a competitive Michigan Invitational and going 1-2. Marshall has leaned on a blend of senior leadership and emerging talent, averaging more than 11.2 kills per set while showing balance across its front line and back row.<\/p>\n<p>Freshman outside hitter Emma Barnett is already making her presence known, earning Highlander Invitational MVP honors with 36 kills in her first collegiate weekend. Sophomore libero Emma Sayre has been a steady defensive force, posting 70 digs so far on this young season, earning All-Tournament Team status at the Highlander Invitational.<\/p>\n<p>Veterans Beatrice Ciccarelli, Elli Barry, and Annika Castellanos continue to anchor the Herd\u2019s attack, while setters Maya Hunt and Bella Thompson provide consistency in distribution.<\/p>\n<p>Eastern Kentucky (4-2) enters Tuesday&#8217;s matchup coming off a strong start of its own, highlighted by a balanced offense and a steady backcourt. The Colonels are averaging 10.67 kills per set and 13.3 digs per set, with a versatile attack that features multiple scoring options on the outside.<\/p>\n<p>Senior right-side AG Hynes and senior middle blocker Carson Ledford provide leadership and experience at the net, while junior setter Emilee Hill helps drive EKU\u2019s tempo offensively.<\/p>\n<p>The Herd looks to capitalize on its early-season rhythm and build momentum before opening Sun Belt Conference play later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marshall Volleyball Preview By Connor Brown, FM88 Sports Sept. 8, 2025 HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) \u2014 The Marshall Volleyball Team returns to the Cam Henderson Center on Tuesday where it will host Eastern Kentucky in its 2025 home opener. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Thundering Herd (4-2) opened the season with momentum,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1338,1334,225,1337,219,1339,115,1330,221,220,1331,228,1329,1335,229,1332,1333,100,381,69,28,138,205,1336,251,386,236,387,23,212,211,51,96],"class_list":["post-4109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wmul-sports","tag-ag-hynes","tag-annika-castellanos","tag-beatrice-ciccarelli","tag-bella-thompson","tag-cam-henderson-center","tag-carson-ledford","tag-college-radio","tag-colonel-volleyball","tag-eastern-kentucky-colonels","tag-eastern-kentucky-university","tag-eastern-kentucky-volleyball","tag-eku","tag-eku-volleyball","tag-elli-barry","tag-emilee-hill","tag-emma-barnett","tag-emma-sayre","tag-fm88-sports","tag-herd-volleyball","tag-huntington-wv","tag-marshall-university","tag-marshall-university-athletics","tag-marshall-volleyball","tag-maya-hunt","tag-sbc","tag-sbc-volleyball","tag-sun-belt-conference","tag-sun-belt-conference-volleyball","tag-thundering-herd","tag-thundering-herd-athletics","tag-thundering-herd-volleyball","tag-wmul","tag-wv"],"acf":[],"fimg_url":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4109"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4576,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109\/revisions\/4576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}