Sept. 30, 2007

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Junior Ashley Petrinec (Bloomington, Ill.) led four Southern Miss players in double figures for kills with 17 as the Lady Eagles defeated East Carolina 3-2 (26-30, 30-27, 20-30, 30-18, 15-8) here Sunday afternoon in Conference USA volleyball action at Reed Green Coliseum.

The Lady Eagles (10-10 overall, 1-3 C-USA) won their first league game of the season as seniors Mari Ruddick (Santa Clarita, Calif.) and Amanda Huntoon (Encinitas, Calif.) added 16 kills each, while senior Morgan Johnson (Benton, Ill.) delivered 12 kills.

Six different Southern Miss players notched double-digit digs including 15 from sophomore Maia Ivanova (Sofia, Bulgaria), 13 from freshman Jillian Neave (Salem, Wis.), 12 each from Ruddick and sophomore Amy Flarity (Mobile, Ala.), 11 from Johnson and 10 from Petrinec.

ECU was led Kelley Wernert, who notched 24 kills, two block solos and one block assists, while Mignon Dubenion added 15 kills and Stephanie Turner contributed 13 kills and a match-high 24 digs.

In a first game that saw 13 ties and seven lead changes, the teams were tied at 26-26, when the Pirates (11-8, 2-2) collected two straight blocks, a kill and then took advantage of a bad set by Southern Miss on game point to score the final four points and win game one.

In the second game, the Lady Eagles escaped a late charge by the visitors as they were able to record 21 kills in the game and tallied a .354 hitting percentage for the set to even the match at 1-1.

The next two games were won easily by each respective team, ECU in game three and Southern Miss in game four, setting up a decisive fifth game.

The Lady Eagles came out on fire to start the final game by scoring eight of the first nine points. Huntoon collected three kills and a block assist during that stretch, while ECU's Wernert tallied three attack errors as Southern Miss easily captured the deciding game.

The Lady Eagles return to C-USA play next Friday (Oct. 5), when they travel to Memphis for the first of a two-match trip. The match is slated to start at 7 p.m.