Volleyball Clinches Winning Season With 3-1 Home Victory Over USF

Friday, November 3

Greenville, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

17-9, 8-5AAC

USF

9-14, 4-9AAC

USF

ECU

Volleyball Clinches Winning Season With 3-1 Home Victory Over USF

November 03, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The ECU volleyball team secured a winning record for the first time since 2006 thanks to a 3-1 (25-12, 23-25, 29-27, 25-16) American Athletic Conference win over USF Friday night inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The Pirates also pulled back into a tie with Cincinnati for fourth place in the league standings as the Bearcats were swept by UCF earlier in the evening.

Fifth-year head coach Julie Torbett became the all-time wins leader at ECU, notching her 72nd victory at the helm of the program.

Team Records: ECU (17-9, 8-5 AAC) | USF (9-14, 4-9 AAC)

ECU hit over .300 for the eighth time this season, putting down 58 kills on 131 attempts with just 17 errors to finish with a .313 mark. The Bulls ended up at .184 after recording 56 kills on 152 attempts with 28 errors. The Pirates also out-dug the visitors 62-54 and had the upper hand in total blocks at 10.0 to 3.0.

Senior outside hitters Lael Ceriani and Ashton Mares provided a good chunk of the offense for the Purple and Gold, tallying 19 and 15 kills respectively. The duo also racked up 11 and 17 digs to finish with double-doubles. Freshman setter Shelby Martin filled up the stat sheet with 46 assists, six kills, three digs and a .600 hitting percentage while sophomore libero Brandee Markwith and senior defensive specialist Alex Jessett chipped in with 14 and 13 digs of their own. Doris Carter and Joli Holland combined for 28 kills to pace USF.

Torbett's Take: "Our offense was efficient for the second-straight match and that really helped us through tonight. I am proud of the team for its resiliency when the third set was really tight at the end.

"It is an honor to be the winningest head coach in program history and that could not have happened without the players that have bought into what we have built the last five years."

Set One: A trio of consecutive attacking errors afforded ECU a 5-1 advantage in the opening stanza and the Pirates never looked back. The Bulls called for time when senior middle hitter Natalie Montini made the score 14-7 with a kill, but the Purple and Gold kept the pressure on – limiting USF to just five more points the rest of the set.

Set Two: A block by freshman right side Bri Wood and sophomore middle hitter Toya Osuegbu gave ECU a 5-3 edge early in the second frame, but a 10-4 run by the Bulls allowed them to assume a 13-9 lead and prompt a Pirate timeout. ECU kept within striking distance as the stanza wore on, staving off a USF set point to make the score 24-23, but Clara Payne came up with a kill to give the Bulls the set by two points.

Set Three: The Pirates looked to be in control of the third, racing out to an 11-5 advantage. A block by Osuegbu and Martin kept ECU ahead 20-17, however, USF fended off two set points at 24-22 to knot the score. The Bulls were in front 25-24, 26-25, and 27-26 before an Osuegbu kill, Alex Mendoza bad set and Reagan Davey attacking error allowed the Pirates to snatch away the set in extra points and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Set Four: ECU capitalized on the momentum shift early in the fourth, as a kill by Martin saw the Pirates build an 11-6 cushion. USF rallied to within 17-15 on a Davey kill, but ECU proved too much for the Bulls to handle as the Purple and Gold ended the match scoring eight of the final nine points.

News and Notes

The Pirates completed the season sweep of USF after downing the Bulls 3-1 back on Sept. 24 in Tampa.
ECU notched its 10th home victory of the campaign, improving its record in Greenville to 10-4 and 4-1 in conference matches.
The Pirates ran their record to 8-0 when hitting .300 or better and 13-4 when winning the first set.
Markwith increased her 2017 digs total to 496, moving into fourth place on the single-season list.
ECU improved to 4-8 all-time against USF with the season series sweep.

Up Next: The Pirates close out the weekend Sunday when they host UCF. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m.