Volleyball Drops Five-Set Tussle To Defending AAC Champion SMU

Friday, September 29

Greenville, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

9-6, 1-2AAC

SMU

9-5, 3-0AAC

SMU

ECU

Volleyball Drops Five-Set Tussle To Defending AAC Champion SMU

September 29, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – ECU took another of the American Athletic Conference's top teams to the limit Friday night but fell just short as SMU captured a 3-2 (19-25, 25-14, 27-25, 22-25, 15-7) decision inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

Team Records: ECU (9-6, 1-2 AAC) | SMU (9-5, 3-0 AAC)

The Pirates have taken the fourth and fifth picks in the AAC preseason poll the distance in two of the last three contests.

Sophomore middle hitter Toya Osuegbu tallied a career-high 13 kills to go along with a .429 hitting percentage and six blocks. Senior outside hitter Lael Ceriani also notched 13 kills while senior middle hitter Natalie Montini and freshman right side Bri Wood chipped in with 12 apiece. Freshman setter Shelby Martin put down a personal-best seven kills and completed the first double-double of her career with 49 assists and 11 digs. Defensively, sophomore libero Brandee Markwith collected a match-high 27 digs while senior outside hitter Ashton Mares and senior defensive specialist Alex Jessett recorded 13 and 10 digs respectively. Meryn Kennedy paced the Mustangs with 20 kills to complement a double-double of 10 kills and 12 digs by Katie Hegarty.

Both teams hit over .200 with SMU firing at a .255 clip as compared to ECU's .224 efficiency. The teams also finished tied in the dig column with 83 each while the Pirates out-blocked the Mustangs 11.0 to 6.0. ECU hit .472 in the fourth set but just .000 in the fifth stanza.

Torbett's Take: "We had a solid game plan coming into this match. We just need to tighten up a few of the little things that will ultimately make us successful. The key going into Sunday is staying composed and keeping our confidence up. It's tough to be in a position to beat two of the top teams in the conference and not get it done but we are making a ton of progress with this program. It is going to pay off. The band was fantastic tonight and we love how they make the atmosphere so much better."

Set One: ECU made SMU take the first timeout of the match when an attacking error afforded the Pirates a 10-6 advantage. The Purple and Gold kept the Mustangs at an arm's length the rest of the frame, pulling in front 18-12 on a block before closing out the stanza by six points.

Set Two: ECU was unable to find its footing in the second set, falling behind 9-3 and 16-7. SMU pulled away and knotted the match at a set apiece entering the intermission.

Set Three: Neither side held more than a two-point edge for the majority of the pivotal third frame, but the Mustangs were able to creep out to a 23-19 lead and force the Pirates to use a timeout. ECU put together a big rally as a Mares kill sparked a 6-1 run to put the Pirates at set point, 25-24. However, SMU was able to score the final three to win the stanza in extra points.

Set Four: ECU broke a 12-12 deadlock with four-straight points, going ahead 16-12 following a kill by Wood. The lead grew to 22-17 when Wood connected again, but three-straight scores by the visitors sliced the advantage to 22-20 and prompted a Pirate timeout. Wood came through again out of the short break, tallying another kill to make it 23-20. The teams sided out from that point, giving the frame to ECU by three and sending the match to the decider.

Set Five: A block by Martin and Montini, as well as a kill by Montini, saw the Pirates jump out to a 2-0 lead. However, SMU scored nine of the next 10 points to take full control. ECU drew within 11-6 on a kill by Wood, but the advantage was too large to overcome as the Mustangs emerged from the two and a half hour battle with the win.

News And Notes

The Pirates have hit over .200 in all three of their AAC matches and have also had the upper hand in total blocks.
SMU improved to 13-4 over ECU and has won 12 straight in the series.
The Pirates took two sets off of the Mustangs for the first time since defeating them in five sets back on Oct. 26, 2008 in Greenville.
ECU dropped to 0-4 in five-set matches this season.

Up Next: The Pirates look to rebound Sunday when they welcome Tulsa to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum for a 1 p.m. first serve. The Golden Hurricane fell in four sets at Cincinnati tonight.