East Carolina University
Memphis
ECU Drops Five-Set Contest to Memphis
October 26, 2014 | Volleyball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - After going up 2-0 at the intermission, the East Carolina volleyball was unable to capture a victory as Memphis came back and won the last three sets as the Pirates dropped a 3-2 [25-18, 26-24, 22-25, 16-25, 10-15] decision to the Tigers Sunday afternoon. The Pirates fall to 10-9 overall and 3-7 in the American, while the Tigers move to 18-6 on the year and 8-2 in conference action.
The Pirates started off hot as they knocked down 29 kills in the first two frames while hitting .293. However, ECU was unable to keep that pace going as they committed 20 attack errors and hit a mere .057 in the final three sets.
"Obviously we competed, we sent it to five sets, but we were up 2-0 and we gave it away," Head coach Julie Torbett said. "We gave it away on our errors and that's really frustrating. They've got to be able to find a way to put those balls down. We have to compete and find a way to dig in and get it done."
While the Pirates struggled in the final three sets, the Tigers stayed consistent throughout the match hitting .192 as a team and knocking down 68 kills.
Both teams had four players score in double-figures, while Memphis collected three double-doubles and ECU had two.
Memphis' was led by Catlin Lilly and Oluchi Agomuo who each recorded 15 kills. Agomuo also added 13 digs for a double-double. Lauren Wright added 14 kills and Kate Gibson contributed 11. Setter Veronica Zimmerman also notched a double-double for the Tigers with 53 assists and 27 digs.
East Carolina was stout once again at the net as the Pirates posted 12.5 blocks as Torre Blake put up a career-high seven block assists. Blake also notched 11 kills for ECU. In addition to Blake's performance, the Pirates were also led offensively by Sydney Darden's 12 kills and as many digs, while Natalie Montini pounded out a career-best 11 kills and Ashley McRae contributed 10.
Montini turned in another solid performance as she also added six total blocks, one dig and hit .292.
"Natalie was the bright spot," Torbett said. "She brings so much energy. Her joy in playing the sport is contagious. It brings that energy into the gym. I just can't say enough about how Natalie stepped in and stepped up. I couldn't ask for anything more from her."
Senior setter Zarah Cecich recorded a double-double for ECU with 41 assists and 19 digs, while junior libero Erika Figueroa paced the Pirate defense with a career-high 33 digs as East Carolina finished with a total of 98.
"Erika destroyed her previous career-record with 33 digs on the match," Torbett stated. "She just dominated in the back row. I love to get career-highs out of juniors and seniors."
East Carolina played a solid first two sets against Memphis, which is second in the American standings. The Pirates hit .394 in the first set and pounded out 14 kills while their defense limited the Tigers to just .087 hitting. ECU posted a 72-percent sideout margin and led throughout the frame as the Pirates went on to win, 25-18.
The Pirates continued their offensive attack in the second set with a .214 attack percentage. However, the Tigers stepped their game up and hit .273 and battled ECU through nine ties and three lead changes. With the score tied at 24-all, Monitni pushed the game to set-point with a kill and the Pirates won, 26-24, on a block assist by McRae and Ashton Mares.
Up 2-0 following the intermission, the Pirates' hitting went cold as they hit .019 in the third set. ECU managed to keep the game close as the Tigers were limited to .070 hitting by the Pirate defense. East Carolina fell behind, 18-17, after an attack error led to Memphis taking the lead. From there, the Tigers went on to win the set, 25-22.
ECU's attack percentage in the fourth set went up to .077, but the Pirates could not overcome a .343 attack percentage from Memphis. The Tigers recorded 15 kills in the match and forced East Carolina into seven attack errors as Memphis cruised to a 25-16 victory and forced a fifth set.
The Pirates jumped ahead in the final set as they took a 2-0 advantage, however the Tigers were quick to even the score at 4-all. The two teams matched each other point-for-point until they were knotted at 8-8. Following two back-to-back miscues by ECU, Memphis knocked down a kill from Gibson to take an 11-8 lead which forced the Pirates to call a timeout. East Carolina came back from the break in action and mustered another two points, but the Tigers' offense put the game away by a score of 15-10.
East Carolina will take a break from conference action when the Pirates host Maryland Eastern Shore on Tuesday, October 28. First serve is set for 1 p.m. at Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum. Live stats and video will be available on ECUPirates.com.
