East Carolina Sweeps George Washington To Begin Pirate Invitational

Friday, September 13

Greenville, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

6-1

George Washington

3-5

George Washington

East Carolina

East Carolina Sweeps George Washington To Begin Pirate Invitational

September 13, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Backed by a .284 hitting percentage, the East Carolina volleyball team opened the Pirate Invitational in style Friday evening, rolling past George Washington in three sets (25-20, 25-16, 25-18) inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The Pirates improved to 6-1 overall while the Colonials fell to 3-5.

USC Upstate defeated Norfolk State in five sets to start the Pirate Invitational in the afternoon before George Washington swept Norfolk State in the day's second match.

"What a great home opener," head coach Julie Torbett said. To sweep a good team with a great atmosphere in the building is exactly what we hoped for. We ran our offense really well and were the better team in serve-receive."

Junior setter Shelby Martin posted her fifth double-double of the campaign, collecting 15 assists and 11 digs. The ECU middles, senior Toya Osuegbu and Sydney Hall, combined for 14 kills and no errors with Hall going off for nine kills and a .600 hitting percentage as well as four total blocks while Osuegbu racked up five blocks of her own. Additionally, junior right side Bri Wood notched her third double-double to the tune of 10 kills and 10 digs, junior setter Marissa Harmon recorded three of the Pirates' six aces and redshirt junior libero Brandee Markwith turned in a match-best 12 digs.

Skylar Iott led the visitors with 12 kills and nine digs while Jaimeson Lee ended with a double-double of 22 assists and 10 digs.

East Carolina out-hit George Washington .284 to .036 and rolled up nine blocks to the Colonials' two. The Pirates also held the upper hand in digs (49-42) and points (56.0-33.0).

ECU fell behind 10-4 in the opening frame after a Colonial ace, but ripped off a 9-3 run that was capped by a Wood kill to knot the score at 13. The teams battled to a tie at 16 before the Pirates scored four of the next five points to propel themselves to a 20-17 advantage. East Carolina rolled from there as a George Washington timeout proved ineffective. A big kill by Osuegbu saw the Pirates lead 23-19 before she also finished off the stanza with a kill to give ECU the win by five.

The Pirates raced out to a 6-3 edge in the second but the Colonials rallied to tie things at eight. Another kill by Wood sparked an ECU run that forced George Washington into a timeout with the Pirates in front 12-9. A nice serving run by sophomore defensive specialist Alden Willis stretched the cushion to 19-13 and that would be more than enough. An electric kill by junior outside hitter Kaiya Heyliger-Powell afforded East Carolina the big nine-point margin of victory and a 2-0 match lead at the intermission.

Looking to extend the match, the Colonials jumped out to a 15-11 advantage midway through the third. The Pirates took a timeout to regroup, settling down and scoring six of the next seven points to surge into the lead. Harmon ended up serving an astounding 11 consecutive times to put the match away. When the dust cleared, ECU was ahead 23-17 as Hall ended the contest with authority via a kill into the middle of the court.

East Carolina is back in action Saturday, facing off against Norfolk State at 1 p.m. and USC Upstate at 7 p.m. The Colonials will also face off with Upstate at 10 a.m.