East Carolina University
Marshall
Marshall Defeats Volleyball 3-1
September 14, 2006 | Volleyball
Sept. 14, 2006
Marshall 3, East Carolina 1 (PDF)
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina volleyball team fell 3-1 to Marshall Thursday night in the opening match of the 2006 ECU Classic sponsored by Holiday Inn Express. Tonight's contest was the first in Conference USA play for both teams.
Marshall (6-6, 1-0 C-USA) won a very close game one, 30-28. East Carolina (6-6, 0-1 C-USA) tied the game on three different occasions, but could not take the lead. The Herd narrowly led in kills in game one, 22-21, and had the slight hitting percentage advantage, .462-.436.
Game two saw the Pirates take their first lead, at 6-5, and would tie the game four times before Marshall finally won 30-26.
Down two games to none, the Pirates fought back in game three, winning 30-23, forcing a game four. The Pirates held Marshall to just .095 hitting in the third game. The Pirates were up 11-2 early in the fourth game, but the Herd fought back, winning the fourth and final game 30-26.
"We played our hearts out tonight," head coach Chris Rushing said. "We left it all out there on the floor.
"I thought it was really good for us to come out and play so hard and with such passion to win game three. We started game four the same way, but we are still in the stage were we need to close out a match."
Dubenion led the Pirates with 19 kills and four block assists. Kelley Wernert added 18 kills, five digs and two solo blocks. Stephanie Turner led the Pirates defensively with 14 digs, while setter Heidi Krug tallied 53 assists.
Kelly-Anne Billingy led all players with 26 kills while adding 10 digs. Stephanie Cahill, Christin Bimberg and Maggie Arias each recorded 12 digs on the night. Cahill added 18 kills for a double-double. Uche Ndubisi had 10 kills on the night and Chelsea Lazar added 12.
Marshall out hit the Pirates .296-.265, recording 73 kills to ECU's 60. East Carolina recorded nine total blocks on the night, with Jaime Bevan and Wernert each tallying two solo blocks.
The Pirates return to action tomorrow as they face Wisconsin-Green Bay at 7 p.m. at Minges Coliseum in day two of the ECU Classic sponsored by Holiday Inn Express. Day two of the Classic gets underway Friday morning at 10 a.m. with Wisconsin-Green Bay facing Grambling State, while Marshall will play Grambling State at 5 p.m.
