BOX SCORE

The Thundering Herd volleyball team and fans celebrate the final point in Marshall's 34-32 win in game three to sweep the Bowling Green Falcons, 3-0, and advance to the MAC tournament semifinals. photo by Matt Riley(/i>

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Thundering Herd volleyball team cleared hurdle number one as it attempts to make it back to the Mid-American Conference finals for another shot at a league crown, as it knocked off host Bowling Green, 3-0 (30-26, 30-28, 34-32) Friday afternoon in the MAC quarterfinals.

Unlike one week ago, the Thundering Herd volleyball team jumped out to a 2-0 advantage against the Bowling Green Falcons at Anderson Arena instead of falling two games behind.

Last Friday night, the Falcons jumped out to the 2-0 lead, but it was the Herd that stormed back to take the 3-2 win. This time however, the Herd didn't let the Falcons pull a reverse deja vu. Marshall came out after the intermission and finished off business for the three-game victory to advance to the MAC semifinals to take on No. 2 seed Ball State at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Even with the 3-0 final score, the wins in each game didn't come easy for the Herd against the host Falcons.

"It was a tough match," junior setter Katie Stein (Sussex, Wis.) said. "I think playing them last week helped us be prepared for what they were going to do, but our main goal was to just go out there and play our game and forget about the technical stuff, just play the way we're capable of playing. Once we were out there, it went back and forth, but I think we just stepped up and made the plays in bigger situations that needed to be made to win."

Marshall took care of game one with a final of 30-26, but the Falcons hung tight throughout. Game two was also back and forth with the teams tied at 28 with Marshall freshman Kelly-Anne Billingy (Trincity, Trinidad)taking over the serve. A block assist by Amber Sims (Ney, Ohio) and Stein gave the Herd game point and a service ace from Billingy finished off the game two win heading into intermission.

Game three was a classic tournament battle. Marshall had a 17-11 advantage, but the Falcons went on an 11-1 run to take the lead 22-18. The Herd would refuse to go quietly after a timeout by head coach Mitch Jacobs to calm the team down and refocus the players for a stretch run.

After a pair of Bowling Green attack errors, Marshall's Stephanie Cahill (Louisville, Ky.) followed up with a pair of kills to get the Herd's momentum rolling again. Billingy, Sims and Christin Bimberg (Schwerin, Germany) would each respond with two kills each in the next seven points for the Herd to help lead the team to tie it 30-30 after swapping points with BGSU back and forth. Bowling Green would take a 32-31 lead, but a kill from Billingy, another from Nickie Sanlin (Fairview Heights, Ill.) and one final thunderous blow from Billingy in the back row sent the Herd onto victory and into the semifinals.

"I'm really proud of our team for finishing this one off and moving on," Jacobs said. "They really battled out there and never stopped believing in themselves even after we got down in game three."

Marshall is now 21-10 on the season.

The No. 3 seed Herd will now take on the No. 2 seeded Ball State Cardinals, a team that is lacking its star player Sarah Obras, who is out for the season with a knee injury. However, the Herd knows that even without Obras, the Cardinal attack is still extremely solid after it finished up the regular season 19-9 and took home the MAC West Division crown.

"Ball State is a very tough team," Jacobs said. "Today it looked like they really found a new pulse to comeback and win the match against Northern Illinois. They really have responded well to the loss of Obras and are fired up and hungry to win this thing so it's going to be a challenge for us."

The Herd players also know it won't be easy against the Cardinals after losing 3-0 in Muncie, Ind., earlier this season.

"We had an off game against them, but they still came out and played very well and took it to us," Sanlin said. "It's going to be tough, but if we play our game we'll be fine. I think like any team that loses its star player, other players step up because they don't want the season to end so they play harder, just like we did when we were without Kelly this year. So I know Ball State's going to be pumped up."

The Herd's superstar, First Team All-MAC selection and MAC Freshman of the Year, Billingy, was impressive in her first postseason match at Marshall against the Falcons.

Billingy finished off the night with 20 kills and a .364 hitting percentage. She also recorded eight digs and five service aces.

"I was a little nervous and really excited to get out there," Billingy said. "I just basically played to go out and have fun and with the help of my teammates that have been here before preparing me for what to expect it really helped me be ready to play well."

Along with Billingy, Stein was huge on the night for the Herd. The junior setter finished with 42 assists and 18 digs (14/6 per game) to lead the Herd to the win and advance to the semifinals.

"Katie Stein was simply a superstar out there tonight," Jacobs said. "I think she wanted to show everyone that she deserved to be on the All-MAC team and was awesome tonight."

Stein said this is her favorite time of the season because everything is on the line.

"Once tournament time comes, it's what you worked toward all year, it's a whole new ball game," she said."You have to take each team just as serious as the next because when it comes to tournament time you never know what can happen."

Also on the night for the Herd, Cahill finished with 12 kills, Bimberg had 11 kills and 10 digs for a double-double and freshman Maggie Arias (Indianapolis, Ind.) had 14 digs on the night.

The Herd is now 4-2 under Jacobs in MAC tournament play heading into the semifinals for the second straight year. Marshall downed No. 3 seed Akron, 3-0, last season in the semifinals at Ball State.

First serve for tomorrow's match is set for 4 p.m. from Anderson Arena in Bowling Green.