East Carolina University
Memphis
Memphis Defeats Volleyball, 3-1
October 03, 2010 | Volleyball
Oct. 3, 2010
Coach Rolf discusses the match (video)
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Redshirt Junior Kelly Derby put down a personal season-high nine kills with nine blocks Sunday, but Memphis held off the East Carolina volleyball team for a 3-1 victory (25-18, 21-25, 25-22, 25-13) at Minges Coliseum. The Pirates are now 1-15 overall and 0-4 in C-USA play while the Tigers rise to 11-15 in 2010 and even their league record at 2-2.
In addition to Derby's output, redshirt junior Britney Roper put down seven kills while juniors Amanda Lutzow and Jackie Varnum contributed six. Defensively, redshirt junior Nicole Jones had another solid outing, picking up 13 digs to go along with the career-high 27 Friday at UAB. During the weekend, she averaged 4.44 digs per set.
Memphis hit .336 in the match with 59 kills on 116 attempts with just 20 errors. On the other side, ECU put up a .145 mark, tallying 36 kills on 110 attempts while also comitting 20 errors. The Tigers also had the advantage in aces (6-2) and digs (41-30), but the Pirates had a great blocking effort, posting 13.0 as opposed to 6.0 for Memphis.
East Carolina took a 4-1 advantage in the first set, but the Tigers rallied to knot the score at four. The run would continue for Memphis, as they would eventually score eight-straight points to assume a 9-4 lead. The Pirates couldn't sustain any momentum from there, allowing the Tigers to take the seven-point win.
ECU scored the first point of the second frame and never trailed throught the interval, forcing a Memphis timeout leading 11-6. The Pirates clinched the set with a kill by Varnum after the Tigers fought off three set points.
Continuing its solid play into the third frame, East Carolina found itself up by as much as six points at 15-9, but Memphis would rally with an 11-5 run to knot the score at 20 when Roper was blocked by Marija Jovanovic and Katie Meyer. The Tigers ran with the momentum, scoring five of the last seven points to take the 2-1 match lead.
Memphis took control from the outset of the fourth set, establishing a 10-2 lead. The Tigers did not look back, taking leads of 13-3 and 19-7. However, The Pirates scored five-straight on match point for Memphis before Vesna Jelic finally found the floor to end the affair.
ECU continues its campaign next weekend (Oct. 9 and 10) with a pair of matches at UCF. First serve for both contests is slated for 7 p.m.
