Oct. 7, 2007

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall had three players record double-digit kills including a match-high 18 kills by senior outside hitter Kelly-Anne Billingy, as the Herd posted a 3-1 (30-26, 30-24, 16-30, 30-22) win over the UTEP Miners in Sunday afternoon's Conference USA volleyball match.

Marshall extended its win streak to seven-straight and sixth in the conference to improve to 13-7 overall. The Herds are the only team in C-USA with a flawless league record at 6-0.

UTEP falls to 6-12 on the season and remains winless in C-USA action at 0-7.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, UTEP raced out to a 23-12 lead and used a 7-3 run to close out the game and force a game four.

In game four, the Herd built a 21-16 lead behind four Billingy kills. From there, Marshall scored nine of the next 15 points to post a 30-22 game three victory and seal the match.

In game one, the teams fought to a 26-26 deadlock following 11 ties and five lead changes, before the Herd scored four straight points, including a kill by junior middle hitter Jalicia Ross and two from Billingy to close out the game.

In game two, the Herd was powered by a seven-kill effort from senior outside hitter Stephanie Cahill who hit at an impressive .778 clip.

Cahill, who needed just two kills entering the match to become third on Marshall's all-time kills list, tallied 17 on the day (to go along with 11 digs), as she passed former Herd great, Bridget Repsher who played from 1991-94 and tallied 1,241 over her career. Cahill has amassed 1,256 in her four years so far for the green and white.

The Herd received solid play from senior middle hitter Uche Ndubisi, who tallied 13 kills, while senior libero Maggie Arias tallied 12 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Kristin Marcum added 10 digs and freshman setter Elizabeth Fleming notched 47 assists in the win.

Senior Fabiola Nepomuceno posted 27 kills to help lead TU past Rice on Sunday, 3-2.

C-USA LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Sun., Oct. 7
* Tulane def. East Carolina, 3-1
* Marshall def. UTEP, 3-1
* Houston def. SMU, 3-0
* Memphis def. UCF, 3-0
* Tulsa def. Rice, 3-2
* UAB def. Southern Miss, 3-2

Fri., Oct. 5
* East Carolina def. UTEP, 3-1
* Marshall def. Tulane, 3-0
* Tulsa def. Houston, 3-0
* Memphis def. Southern Miss, 3-1
* SMU def. Rice, 3-2
* UAB def. UCF, 3-0

Tue., Oct. 2
Memphis def. Central Arkansas, 3-1

* C-USA matches.

TULSA DEF. RICE, 3-2
Tulsa, Okla. - In what is becoming the norm, The University of Tulsa and Rice University volleyball teams went five games in the third consecutive meeting. Both match-ups during the 2006 season were extended to five stanzas. The Golden Hurricane has won all three, including a 3-2 (29-31, 30-28, 30-27, 22-30. 15-11) victory on Sunday afternoon. A crowd of 117 watched the Golden Hurricane win its 18th straight Conference USA match at home. Only Louisville and USF have had a better home start to C-USA play by winning their first 26 and 21 home league matches, respectively. Tulsa has won 15 consecutive matches total, dating back to last season.

Senior Fabiola Nepomuceno led a trio of Hurricane hitters with double-figure kill performances with 27 kills. She also had a career high 96 attempts. Freshmen Emma Ridley and Hannah Stout contributed 15 and 11 kills, respectively for the Hurricane. Senior Julia Silva posted 57 assists, while junior Malorey Grove led the way with a match-high 36 digs.

Tulsa improves to 16-5 on the season, 4-2 during league play. Rice falls to 8-10 overall and 3-3 in C-USA play.

TULANE DEF. EAST CAROLINA, 3-1
GREENVILLE, N.C - Junior outside hitter Sara Radosevic led Tulane with a season-high 28 kills as the Tulane Green Wave downed the East Carolina Pirates, 3-1 (23-30, 30-18, 30-24, 30-27), Sunday at Williams Arena. Four members of the Green Wave were in double-figure kills as Tulane hit .396 for the match to improve to 16-4 overall and 6-1 in Conference USA. Radosevic connected at a career-best .447 hitting percentage with 28 kills on 47 attempts.

Sophomore outside hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic added 18 kills, hitting .325, while junior outside hitter Bridget Wells chipped in 15 kills on a .333 percentage.

Junior middle blocker Jen Linder was the fourth member of the Wave in double-figures, with 10 kills on 14 attempts for a .571 percentage. Junior middle blocker Lauren Boatwright set a career-high with five assists, while adding four kills and four blocks.

ECU (12-9 overall, 3-3 C-USA) was led by Kelly Wernert's 19 kill s and six blocks from Peyton Thompson.

In game one, the Green Wave middles connected for three early kills to give Tulane a 13-12 lead. The Pirates took a 20-17 lead on a pair of service aces from Peyton Thompson. Despite a pair of kills from Wells, Tulane would pull no closer than 22-19, falling 30-23.

The Green Wave took a 9-5 lead in game two on a pair of kills each from Radosevic and Wells. Tulane stretched the margin to 15-6 on a block from Boatwright and Lindsey Shepard. Radosevic blasted three more kills as Tulane maintained a 21-11 margin, and the Wave slammed the door, 30-18. Tulane hit .441 in the second frame, led by Vlaskovic, who recorded five kills on six swings with no errors.

In game three, the Wave opened to a 10-5 lead on four kills from Radosevic. Following a block from Vlaskovic, Tulane maintained a 19-13 edge, as the Green Wave connected at a .462 clip early in the game. The Pirates whittled the lead down, however, as a kill from Kelley Wernert pulled ECU to within four, at 25-21. But Jen Linder set up and earned game-point with back-to-back kills for a 30-24 win.

Tulane led the fourth frame, 9-6, but the Pirates rallied to tie it at 12-all after a kill and block from Wernert. A pair of errors gave the Pirates a 18-16 lead before Radosevic's two kills gave the Wave a 22-21 lead. The two teams traded the lead until Vlaskovic's back-to-back kills gave Tulane a 29-27 edge and the Green Wave iced the game on a service ace from Luna Rebrovic.

Junior setter Luna Rebrovic posted a season-high with 44 assists, adding nine digs, while Jenn Miller paced Tulane defensively with 17 digs. Radosevic also contributed nine digs and a pair of blocks.

HOUSTON DEF. SMU, 3-0
Dallas, Texas -Houston jumped back into the win column Sunday when they defeated the SMU Mustangs in three games Sunday in Dallas. The Cougars won in three games with scores of 30-22, 30-23, 30-26.

With the win the Cougars (9-8, 4-2 C-USA) snapped a two-game losing streak in conference action after falling to Rice and Tulsa.

In the win, Houston was led by freshman Hannah Sullivan, who notched a game-high 20 kills for a .425 hitting percentage. Junior Justine Farmer added 16 kills and nine digs.

In game one, UH mounted a late seven point lead, 24-17, forcing a Mustang timeout. The Cougars came out of the break scoring the next three straight points and seven of the final 10 points for the win.

Game two looked to be going in SMU's favor as they held the lead through the half-way mark but Houston chipped away tying it, 13-13. From then on it was Houston's game. They never relinquished their lead and earned the 2-0 lead in the match.

With one last chance for the Mustangs to extend the game, Houston took the early lead and never gave it up. Sullivan led the Cougars in the win, earning nine of her 20 kills in game three.

The Mustangs were led by Natalie Peters and Candice Davis with 10 kills and 14 digs, respectively.

UAB DEF. SOUTHERN MISS, 3-2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Down 2-0 with its eight-match home winning streak on the line against Southern Miss Sunday afternoon, the UAB volleyball team fought back to earn a 3-2 (21-30, 24-30, 30-27, 30-13, 15-11) victory inside Bartow Arena. The win improves the Blazers to 13-6 (4-2 C-USA) on the year and moves their home winning streak to nine matches. Junior Lilly Domingos sparked the Blazer comeback, coming off the bench to finish with nine kills and seven blocks. Southern Miss drops to 10-12 (1-5 C-USA) with the loss.

Senior Fernanda Domingos and junior Ivana Bozic tied for the team-lead in kills with 15. Bozic coupled her kills total with 14 digs for her 12th double-double of the season.

Junior Casey Dent, who played a significant role in game five, finished with 12 kills on .370 hitting and five total blocks. Also finishing in double-figures in kills for the Blazers was sophomore Andrea Lalic, who recorded a career-high 10 kills.

Bowland finished with seven digs in the match.

Junior Nevena Stefanov finished with 55 assists and 11 digs to post her fourth double-double of the season. Stefanov also put down seven kills and served six aces.

Senior Brianna Galvin recorded a match-high 17 digs in the match, while sophomore Haylee Adkins was strong defensively for the Blazers as well, finishing with eight digs.

Southern Miss was led by Morgan Johnson and her match-high 20 kills on .459 hitting. Stevi Cherry finished with 16 kills.

The Golden Eagles were able to build a 2-0 lead in the match after the Blazers hit .044 in game one and .265 in game two.

Trailing 2-0 in the match and 17-15 in game three after a Cherry kill, the Blazers made their move as a pair of Dent kills gave UAB an 18-17 advantage and then later, a kill by Lalic opened up a 26-22 lead. A kill by Bozic then brought up game point at 29-25.

Southern Miss was able to fight off two game points before Bozic put down another kill to earn the 30-27 game three victory.

Game four was all UAB as the Blazers took a 23-3 lead by winning 16 straight points. Stefanov served 15 of those points in which she landed four aces.

The Blazers continued to roll through game four, winning 30-13 on a kill by Lilly.

UAB used its momentum generated in game four to take a 5-1 lead in the decisive fifth game. The Golden Eagles responded, however, coming back to take a 6-5 lead on a kill by Johnson.

Trailing 11-10, Dent put down another kill to even the score once again. After an attack error on the Golden Eagles helped the Blazers regain the lead, Stefanov put down a kill on a well-disguised attack attempt to give UAB a 13-11 advantage.

An attack error on Cherry then gave UAB match point at 14-11 and the Blazers took advantage, finishing off the come-from-behind victory, 15-11, on a block by Dent and Stefanov.

TULANE DEF. EAST CAROLINA, 3-1
GREENVILLE, N.C - Junior outside hitter Sara Radosevic led Tulane with a season-high 28 kills as the Tulane Green Wave downed the East Carolina Pirates, 3-1 (23-30, 30-18, 30-24, 30-27), Sunday at Williams Arena. Four members of the Green Wave were in double-figure kills as Tulane hit .396 for the match to improve to 16-4 overall and 6-1 in Conference USA.

Radosevic connected at a career-best .447 hitting percentage with 28 kills on 47 attempts.

Sophomore outside hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic added 18 kills, hitting .325, while junior outside hitter Bridget Wells chipped in 15 kills on a .333 percentage.

Junior middle blocker Jen Linder was the fourth member of the Wave in double-figures, with 10 kills on 14 attempts for a .571 percentage. Junior middle blocker Lauren Boatwright set a career-high with five assists, while adding four kills and four blocks.

ECU (12-9 overall, 3-3 C-USA) was led by Kelly Wernert's 19 kill s and six blocks from Peyton Thompson.

In game one, the Green Wave middles connected for three early kills to give Tulane a 13-12 lead. The Pirates took a 20-17 lead on a pair of service aces from Peyton Thompson. Despite a pair of kills from Wells, Tulane would pull no closer than 22-19, falling 30-23.

The Green Wave took a 9-5 lead in game two on a pair of kills each from Radosevic and Wells. Tulane stretched the margin to 15-6 on a block from Boatwright and Lindsey Shepard. Radosevic blasted three more kills as Tulane maintained a 21-11 margin, and the Wave slammed the door, 30-18. Tulane hit .441 in the second frame, led by Vlaskovic, who recorded five kills on six swings with no errors.

In game three, the Wave opened to a 10-5 lead on four kills from Radosevic. Following a block from Vlaskovic, Tulane maintained a 19-13 edge, as the Green Wave connected at a .462 clip early in the game. The Pirates whittled the lead down, however, as a kill from Kelley Wernert pulled ECU to within four, at 25-21. But Jen Linder set up and earned game-point with back-to-back kills for a 30-24 win.

Tulane led the fourth frame, 9-6, but the Pirates rallied to tie it at 12-all after a kill and block from Wernert. A pair of errors gave the Pirates a 18-16 lead before Radosevic's two kills gave the Wave a 22-21 lead. The two teams traded the lead until Vlaskovic's back-to-back kills gave Tulane a 29-27 edge and the Green Wave iced the game on a service ace from Luna Rebrovic.

Junior setter Luna Rebrovic posted a season-high with 44 assists, adding nine digs, while Jenn Miller paced Tulane defensively with 17 digs. Radosevic also contributed nine digs and a pair of blocks.

MEMPHIS DEF. UCF, 3-0
Memphis got 11 kills from Shelby Burton and a team-high 14 digs from Sarah Bury to sweep UCF in Conference USA action Sunday afternoon. The Tigers extend their in streak to three matches, while claiming their third consecutive win over UCF.

The Tiger defense was again solid, holding UCF to just .119 hitting. Christine Bach made 14 digs, while Burton added five blocks. Bury and Côté made three rejections.