East Carolina Denies Houston First League Win On Senior Night

Thursday, November 17

Greenville, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

15-12, 5-12AAC

Houston

5-23, 0-17AAC

Houston

East Carolina

East Carolina Denies Houston First League Win On Senior Night

November 17, 2016 | Volleyball

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GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina honored its four-member senior class Thursday night with a 3-1 (25-14, 20-25, 25-20, 26-24) American Athletic Conference volleyball victory over reeling Houston at Minges Coliseum.

The win clinched the first non-losing season for the program since 2006 and secured the first season series sweep of an AAC opponent as the Pirates defeated the Cougars 3-0 in Houston back on Oct. 15. Houston was turned back in its bid for its first conference victory of the campaign.

Team Records: East Carolina: (15-12, 5-12 AAC) | Houston: (5-23, 0-17)

Torbett's Take: "We are very happy to come out with a win tonight for our seniors. Tonight was more about playing for them and each other than the actual volleyball. The team has knocked out so many of its goals this year and we are setting the bar higher and higher for this program. However, we are not done yet with three matches still to play."

The Rundown: Fittingly, senior outside hitter I'Tiana Taylor led the ECU offensive efforts with 13 kills while hitting .212. She also racked up seven digs and four blocks. Fellow senior outside Sydney Darden ended up with 10 kills, nine digs and two aces.

On the defensive end, freshman libero Brandee Markwith paced all competitors with 20 digs while adding a career-high six aces as well as five assists. Senior setter Sabrina Gonzalez notched her 15th double-double of the season with 38 assists and 13 digs.

Brianna Lynch collected 14 kills for the Cougars while Keandra McCardell turned in a double-double of 20 assists and 19 digs.

Houston hurt itself with 17 service errors and fell victim to eight Pirate aces. The teams ended up tied in hitting percentage at .180 apiece, but East Carolina had the better of the dig column at 65-51. The Cougars finished with the slight edge in total blocks, recording seven to ECU's six.

Set 1: The opening stanza was all Pirates as they hit .435 with 12 kills and only two errors in 23 attempts. East Carolina built leads of 9-3 and 16-8 before closing the frame out with an 11-point margin of victory.

Set 2: Houston answered back in the second, racing out to a 5-1 advantage. ECU attempted to stay close, drawing within 13-12 after a Cougar attacking error, but Houston proved too much as they won the set by five to pull even at the intermission.

Set 3: A 7-2 Pirate run to begin the third sent the visitors scrambling for a timeout. However, the Cougars battled back and eventually knotted the score at 10. The teams wrestled back and forth for the upper hand through the middle of the frame, but a kill by junior middle hitter Natalie Montini afforded East Carolina some breathing room at 18-15 and forced Houston to burn its final timeout. That would prove vital as, with the score tied at 20, the Cougars could only watch as ECU ran away with the final five points of the stanza and took a 2-1 lead in the match.

Set 4: With the score deadlocked at five to begin the fourth, two Taylor kills helped the Pirates score three straight to force a Houston timeout. The Cougars were able to edge in front slightly from there, but Darden kept them in check with a kill that tied things at 17. A Montini kill put East Carolina on the verge with a 20-17 advantage, but five-straight Houston points flipped the script and saw the Pirates fall behind by a pair.

Unfazed, ECU scored three of the next four points to take a 23-22 lead before an attacking error tied the score once more. A kill had the Cougars at set point, but Gonzalez dumped the ball down into the middle of the defense to forge another stalemate at 24. Montini came up huge on the next rally with a solo stuff and Darden finished the job with an ace to send Houston away empty-handed.

Bits and Pieces: East Carolina improved to 3-6 at home with one more match to play at Minges Coliseum ... Gonzalez' 38 assists moved her into sole possession of sixth place on the program top 10 list with 2,035 ... ECU has won four of the last six meetings with Houston to cut the Cougars' series lead to 16-5 ... A crowd of 603, including a full complement of the Pirate marching band, was on hand for the contest ... If East Carolina wins one of its last three matches, it will secure the program's first outright winning season since 2006.

Up Next: East Carolina entertains Tulane Saturday at 12 noon in the team's home finale. Admission to the match is free for all fans as the football team will take on Navy later in the day at 4 p.m.