East Carolina Welcomes Temple to Minges Coliseum
September 27, 2014 | Volleyball
| Match 10: ECU vs. Temple | |
| Date | Sunday, September 28 |
| Time | 1:00 p.m. (EDT) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. | Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum |
| Match Notes | East Carolina  |
| Coverage | Live Stats | Video |
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina continues American Conference action as the Pirates welcome Temple to Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum. The Pirates and the Owls will go head-to-head on Sunday, September 28, at 1 p.m. The contest is community outreach day as members of local area churches will receive $2 admission with the presentation of a church program.
The Series vs. Temple
The Pirates and the Owls will meet for just the second time in program history when they face off on Sunday. In their only previous meeting, Temple defeated East Carolina, 2-0 [15-10, 15-11], in 1981 at the Maryland Invitational. The Pirates are looking for their first-ever win over the Owls this weekend.
Last Time Out
East Carolina dropped its first American Athletic Conference match to UConn, 3-1 [24-26, 25-19, 19-25, 18-25], Friday night. The Pirates played a solid match as they hit .143 with 48 kills, 46 assists and 76 digs to go along with 8.0 total team blocks. ECU was led offensively by a trio of double-figure scorers in junior middle blocker Kierra Lee-Dunson (13 kills), sophomore outside hitter Sydney Darden (11 kills) and sophomore middle blocker Ashley McRae (11 kills). Lee-Dunson was on-point as she led East Carolina with a .462 attack percentage, while adding four digs and three block assists. Darden turned in her sixth double-double of the season as she contributed 13 digs, while McRae turned in another steady showing with .364 hitting percentage while posting three block assists and one dig. Senior setter Zarah Cecich dished out 34 assists to go along with 15 digs for her second double-double of the season. She also registered three kills, two block assists, and a service ace. Junior libero Lauren Bewick paced the defense with a team-best 16 digs. Junior defensive specialist, Erika Figueroa, and freshman outside hitter, Ashton Mares, also contributed to the ECU defense with 10 digs a piece. East Carolina and UConn battled each other throughout the four sets, but the Huskies managed to pull out the win.
About the Pirates
After dropping a 3-1 decision to UConn Friday night, the Pirates are still looking for their first-ever American Athletic Conference win against Temple Sunday afternoon. East Carolina is 6-3 noverall and 0-1 in conference action. The Pirates are hitting .229 which ranks in the top three in the American. East Carolina averages 1.40 service aces per set which is good for fourth in the league. Sophomore Ashley McRae leads the Pirates with a hitting percentage of .409 which ranks her third in the conference and 23rd in the nation. Junior middle blocker Kierra Lee-Dunson owns an attack percentage of .370 to place eighth in the league. Sophomore outside hitter Sydney Darden has knocked down 119 kills this year for an average of 3.40 per set which lists her in the top 10 in The American. Freshman Ashton Mares is seventh in the league with 0.30 service aces per set. Senior Zarah Cecich has tallied 286 assists this season to average 8.17 per set which puts her in seventh place in the conference.
Scouting the Owls
Temple makes its first-ever appearance at Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum on Sunday while owning a 9-4 overall record and an 0-1 ledger in the American Conference. The Owls are coming off of a 0-3 [22-25, 18-25, 22-25] sweep at UConn last Wednesday and are looking for their first conference victory of the season. As a team, Temple is hitting .245 while averaging 13.4 kills per set. The Owls also average 16.3 digs per set, 1.8 blocks per set and 12.6 assists per set. Sophomore middle blocker Kirsten Overton leads all players in the American with a .433 hitting percentage which is good for 14th in the nation. Junior setter Sandra Sudlik averages 0.40 service aces per set to rank fifth in the American. She also places fifth in the league with an average of 10.07 assists per set. Sophomore Caroline Grattan leads the Owls with 183 kills (3.81 per set) to rank third in the American.
The National Spotlight
Sophomore middle blocker Ashley McRae is hitting a team-leading .417 after knocking down 61 kills with just 13 errors on 109 attempts. The Silver Spring, Md., native's attack percentage ranks her third in the American Conference while ranking 23rd in the nation. McRae has helped the Pirates put together a .244 team attack percentage to rank third in the conference.
Movin' on Up
Senior setter Zarah Cecich has registered a total of 2,157 assists in her career to rank fifth in East Carolina's all-time record book. She has dished out 286 assists this season to average 8.17 per set. Last weekend at the Penn State Alumni Classic, Cecich notched 138 assists. She also added a season-high 58 assists in the Pirates' 3-2 win over Eastern Illinois to open the tournament. Cecich is just 15 assists away from moving into fourth place.
A Time to Kill
Sophomore Sydney Darden is the team leader in kills with 119. She is averaging 3.40 per set after leading the Pirates in kills in six out of nine matches thus far. She has notched six double-doubles for East Carolina this season and is hitting .155. Darden has helped the Pirates average 11.71 kills per set this year while hitting .229 to rank third in the American Conference.
Setting the Standard
Senior Zarah Cecich leads East Carolina in assists with an average of 8.17 per set after dishing out 286 this season. Cecich is the lone senior on the squad and has accumulated 2,157 career assists to rank fifth all-time. She recorded a season-best 58 against Eastern Illinois Friday, September 19, to help ECU capture a 3-2 win over the Panthers at the Penn State Alumni Classic. As a team, the Pirates average 10.63 assists per set as sophomore setter Bella Borgiotti and junior libero Lauren Bewick have also contributed to East Carolina's assist average.
Can You Dig It?
Sydney Darden owns a team-best 100 digs to average 2.86 per set. She tallied a career-high 17 digs against Morgan State and Eastern Illinois, as she helped guide East Carolina to a pair of 3-2 wins over the Bears and Panthers. Junior libero Lauren Bewick is second on the squad with 93 digs for an average of 2.66 per set. Bewick tallied a career-high 17 digs against Eastern Illinois at the Penn State Alumni Classic last weekend. Darden and Bewick have helped East Carolina average 12.49 digs per set as a team this season, while limiting opponents to .199 hitting.
Block Party
Middle blockers Kierra Lee-Dunson and Ashley McRae have been solid at the net for the Pirates this season. The duo has combined for 58 total blocks this year. Lee-Dunson leads the Pirates with 32 total blocks (4 solo blocks, 28 block assists) for an average of 0.94 per set, while McRae is second on the team with 26 total blocks (3 solo blocks, 23 block assists) as she averages 0.74 per set. As a team, the Pirates are averaging 1.94 blocks per set to rank seventh in the American Conference. ECU's opponents have been limited to putting up just 0.93 blocks per set this season.
All-Tourney
At the East Carolina Invitational, two Pirates were named to the All-Tournament Team. Senior setter Zarah Cecich and junior middle blocker Kierra Lee-Dunson picked up the honors after helping lead ECU to a 3-0 record. Cecich finished the weekend with 84 assists (7.64 per set), 15 kills, 11 digs, five blocks and four service aces. Lee-Dunson was solid at the net as she posted a team-best 14 total blocks (1.27 per set) to go along with 10 kills, two digs and one ace. Two weeks later, Sydney Darden collected All-Tournament Team Honors after being named to the Penn State Classic Team. Darden finished the weekend in State College, Pa., with 64 kills to average 3.76 per set, 47 digs for an average of 2.76 per set, nine total blocks (0.53 per set), seven assists (0.41 per set) and three service aces. She knocked down a career-high 26 kills while hitting .317 in the Pirates' 2-3 setback against UIC. She also added a career-best 17 digs in ECU's 3-2 win over Eastern Illinois.
The American
East Carolina joins the American Athletic Conference for the 2014 season along with Tulane and Tulsa. The Pirates will compete against common foes from their Conference USA years in Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF, while meeting new opponents such as Cincinnati, Temple, UConn and USF.
All in the Family
There are a few East Carolina family connections on the roster again this season. Junior Torre Blake, who has played in 22 sets this season and owns 12 kills and six digs, is the daughter of Jeff Blake who played football at ECU and proceeded to enjoy a lengthy NFL career. Additionally, Kierra and Sierra Lee-Dunson return to the Pirates this season and Kierra has an impressive .349 attack percentage, while Sierra has seen action in three sets thus far. The last time East Carolina had a pair of twins on the court was in 2003 when Sarah and Jessica Vick donned purple and gold from 2001-03.
Coming Up
East Carolina will see action in a mid-week, non-conference contest on Tuesday, September 30, when the Pirates host North Carolina Central to Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on ECUPirates.com.
