Pirates Fall In Three At Southern Miss

Saturday, August 25

Hattiesburg, Miss

8:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

2-1

Southern Miss

3-0

ECU

Southern Miss

August 25, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The ECU volleyball team lost a 3-0 (19-25, 16-25, 15-25) decision to host Southern Miss Saturday night in the championship match of the Southern Miss Classic inside Reed Green Coliseum. The Golden Eagles are a perennial contender in Conference USA who have won 20 or more matches every season since 2014 and received first-place votes in this year's C-USA preseason poll.

Freshman middle blocker S'mara Riley led the offense with eight kills while sophomore right side Bri Wood and Sydney Kleinman followed with six apiece. Kleinman also collected a team-high nine digs. Kylie Grandy and Catherine Repsher paced the home side with 15 kills each and setter Sarah Bell recorded a double-double of 41 assists and 14 digs.

The Golden Eagles hit .321 as compared to the Pirates' .111 while USM also held the upper hand in digs (45-38) and total blocks (6.0-3.0).

The first set started out tight with Southern Miss leading 12-11 after a Kleinman kill. The Golden Eagles started to pull ahead, taking a 17-14 lead off a Chandler Marshall kill. ECU was unable to get closer than three the rest of the frame as the Golden Eagles clinched it by six points.

Southern Miss edged out to a 10-5 advantage in the second and did not let up. The lead grew to 18-11 and 22-13 before the Golden Eagles put the set away.

The Pirates battled early in the third stanza as a huge solo block by Kleinman tied the score at nine. ECU was within 15-14 later in the proceedings, but Southern Miss ended things on a 10-1 run to clinch the match.

Wood and freshman outside hitter Natalie Tyson were named to the Southern Miss Classic All-Tournament Team.

The Purple and Gold will return to action next weekend at the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle Invitational.