Sept. 24, 2006

Box Score

DALLAS -- - Three Lady Eagle players recorded double-digit kills, helping Southern Miss sweep SMU in three games, 32-30, 30-23, 30-26, in Conference USA volleyball action Sunday afternoon. Southern Miss earned its first conference win, improved to 8-9 and 1-2, while SMU dropped to 10-6 and 1-2.

Freshman Angela Hlavaty tallied a team-high 13 kills and five blocks, followed by Amanda Huntoon with 11 kills and Ashley Petrinec added 10 for Southern Miss. Senior Amanda Blunck led the team with 16 digs to go with eight kills and no attack errors. Maia Ivanova recorded 13 digs and Cassie Lavery had 10.

Rachel Giubilato led SMU with a match-high 19 kills to go with 12 digs. Caitlin Rainbird also had 11 kills and 10 digs. Candice Davis recorded 16 digs.

"I though everyone played well today," Head Coach Ricci Luyties said. "Nicole Rock really stepped up for us when Morgan Johnson got injured. I believe we led most of the games and every time the score got close, we were able to fight and pull out the win."

Southern Miss took the early lead, 9-5, before SMU went on a 7-2 run to take a 12-11 lead. SMU continued to put the pressure on the Golden Eagles and built its lead to 16-13. Southern Miss then outscored SMU 16-10, taking a 29-26 lead. SMU then reeled off four straight points for a 30-29 lead. Southern Miss ended the game with a kill by Hlavaty and two attack errors by SMU for a 32-30 win.

Game two started with Southern Miss jumping out to an 8-2 lead. SMU battled back to within two points, 11-9, before Southern Miss went on an 8-3 run for a 19-11 lead. SMU managed to cut the lead to four, 22-18, before Southern Miss ended the game on an 8-5 run for a 30-23 win.

SMU started game three with a 5-3 lead. Southern Miss then went on a 6-1 run, taking a 9-6 lead. Southern Miss did not trail again. SMU was able to tie the game on two occasions with the last coming at 23-23. Southern Miss ended the game on a 7-3 run for a 30-26 win.

Southern Miss returns to action on Sept. 29, when the Lady Eagles travel to Orlando, Fla., to play UCF.

Box Score