ECU Falls At Defending AAC Champion Wichita State In Three

Friday, October 12

Wichita, Kan.

8:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

12-5, 4-2

Wichita State

9-8, 4-2

ECU

Wichita State

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

ECU Falls At Defending AAC Champion Wichita State In Three

October 12, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

WICHITA, Kan. – Errors hampered ECU Friday night in a 3-0 (16-25, 12-25, 21-25) loss to defending American Athletic Conference champion Wichita State before a crowd of 2,156 inside Koch Arena.

"I was hoping we would come out with a little more fight from the beginning," head coach Julie Torbett said. "We have a good team. We just needed to play better collectively in order to beat a team like that on their court."

The Pirates (12-5, 4-2 AAC) hit just .078 in the match, committing 24 attacking errors. The Shockers (9-8, 4-2 AAC) conversely hit .292 with only seven errors. That proved to be the big difference as Wichita State held just slight advantages in total kills (35-33) and digs (52-51).

Sophomore right side Bri Wood paced ECU with seven kills while junior defensive specialist Maggie Hallow collected a team-high 14 digs. Tabitha Brown led the Shockers with eight kills and 13 digs.

"I was happy with Bri Wood's passing and defense," Torbett stated. "I thought she did a really good job. I was also happy with Madison Clark the way she came in and set. She's a senior and led the team in the third so that was nice to see. We had some fight at the end but it was a little too late. It's a learning process and we will get to play that team again on our court so hopefully we will take what happened today, learn from it and have a much better performance next time out."

Wichita State raced out to a 7-3 advantage and was able to keep ECU at an arm's length during the set. A kill by Martin pulled the Pirates within 17-12 and a later kill by junior outside hitter Page Hiebert kept ECU trailing by five at 19-14, but the Shockers ended the frame on a 6-2 run.

The home team used the energy from a big home crowd to take control of the match in the second set, limiting the Pirates to 12 points in taking a 2-0 lead in the match.

Wichita State established a sizable lead again in the third, powering in front 8-2 after a Chase Jackson kill. The Shockers led by as much as 21-14 before ECU rallied and cut its deficit to 22-19 after a Wichita State attacking error. The Shockers lost a challenge at match point leading 24-20 but a kill ended the match a rally later.

The Pirates are back in action Sunday at Tulsa. First serve inside the Reynolds Center is set for 2 p.m.