Nov. 19, 2005

Final Stats

HOUSTON, Texas -

The comeback kids did it again.

After falling behind two-games to none for the second day in a row, the No. 1 seeded Thundering Herd volleyball team bounced back to capture a 3-2 (23-30, 21-30, 30-24, 30-28, 15-6) win over No. 4 seed UTEP in the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament in Houston, Texas.

With the win, the Thundering Herd advances to the C-USA championship match to face Houston at 5 p.m. EST Sunday in a nationally televised broadcast on CSTV.

Marshall's Kelly-Anne Billingy was dominant throughout as the sophomore led the Herd with a C-USA Tournament record-tying 37 kills and a . 471 hitting percentage.

"Kelly was absolutely wonderful for us today, but plain and simple it a takes the whole team to do what we just did," Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs said.

What the Herd did was comeback for the second-straight day after trailing 2-0 going into intermission to keep their C-USA title and NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

"In games one and two, we were pretty much non-existent," senior Nickie Sanlin said. "Then when we came back out, everybody stepped up all at once. It seemed at first like we were tense and trying to be too perfect instead of just playing our game."

The UTEP Miners made the C-USA regular season champs look extremely vulnerable early as they rolled to wins of 30-23 and 30-21. But once again, the Herd would not go away quietly.

In game three, Marshall slowly got into a rhythm and began building a lead after tying things 8-8. UTEP would stay close and then the seniors on the Herd came alive. Katie Stein, Amber Sims and Nickie Sanlin sparked the team and continued to show a no-quit attitude as the Herd would gain momentum with each play as it stepped up both offensively and defensively.

"We were just trying to find it," Jacobs said. "The other teams are so loose with nothing to lose. If we go out in that round then we're probably done for the year. I don't think we ever played with any panic today and our seniors led us mentally and showed their maturity out there. We asked our seniors to pick us up and they did."

In games four and five, the Herd began to display the Thunder it had used all season long. Marshall outhit the Miners .400 to .085 in the last two games to propel the Herd to the win and the right to play for the championship on CSTV.

The seniors finished with impressive numbers on the night to go along with the leadership it took to keep the Herd together.

Sanlin finished with 16 kills and a .438 hitting percentage while Sims had 15 kills and a .333 clip. Stein finished with 73 assists and 14 digs as she set the Herd to a .307 hitting percentage as a team.

"I think our attitude totally changed in game three because we had nothing to lose," Stein said. "All we could do was go out there and leave nothing on the court. Our team perseveres because we believe in each other and trust in each other. That's why we been able to comeback and win these matches."

Also for the Herd, Maggie Arias had 27 digs while Taylor Tanner chipped in with 14 digs as the Herd defense tightened up in the last three games. Other numbers for the Herd included 11 digs and nine kills for Stephanie Cahill who came back strong after struggling in games two and three, but the big story of the night was the 6'3 sophomore from Trinidad. Billingy was the go to person all night and she showed why she was the C-USA Player of the Year.

"I like knowing its going to come to me, but I know anybody on the team will do the same thing I can do," Billingy said. "Everybody steps up and does what they have to do to get the job done."

With the win, Marshall has now won 11-straight, the longest streak in school history. Marshall's 25 wins also ties the most since 1995 when the Herd won the Southern Conference Tournament and advanced to its last NCAA Tournament.

Marshall will now prepare for the Houston Cougars, a team it beat 3-1 earlier this season in Houston. The Cougars are 18-11 on the year after to beating No. 11 seed Tulane to advance to the finals for the 5 p.m. start on CSTV.

Sunday's match will be available on CSTV and on GameTracker on Herdzone.com and CSTV Online. First serve is set for 5 p.m. EST from Autry Court on the campus of Rice University in Houston.