Volleyball Falls to Marshall on the Road
October 01, 2014 08:17 PM | General
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia University volleyball team wrapped up its nonconference slate with a 3-0 loss to in-state foe Marshall, falling in set scores of 19-25, 17-25 and 22-25, on Wednesday evening at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
West Virginia (11-5, 1-1 Big 12) posted its lowest blocking total of the season with just one team block in the loss. The Mountaineers hit .189, while the Thundering Herd (9-9, 3-0 C-USA) hit .327 as a team.
Nikki Attea led WVU, hitting for a .429 clip with 12 kills and six digs. She also added in three assists and an ace. Jordan Anderson finished in double figures as well with 11 kills and seven digs. Hannah Sackett found the court on five occasions, as did Caleah Wells.
Wells teamed with Lamprini Konstantinidou for WVU’s lone block of the night. Konstantinidou also had 28 assists to go with a pair of kills and four digs. Gianna Gotterba led the squad, digging 12 balls in the match, while Wells, Sackett and Melvina Brown each had three digs.
Ally Kiekover led the Thundering Herd with 16 kills three blocks, while Sammie Bane had 39 assists in the match. Allie Kellerman finished the night with 10 digs and three aces for Marshall.
“I think we struggled in every aspect of the game,” said coach Jill Kramer. “We had a hard time getting the offense going and I don’t think it really had anything to do with blocking. I think it had a lot more to do with serving; they served really well. Our blocking defense was not where it has been. We had one block for the match and that hasn’t happened all year.”
The Mountaineers opened the match hitting .200 in set one, with Anderson and Attea finding the court six times each. West Virginia took a 5-2 lead on a kill from Attea, and carried the advantage to 7-4 on a Marshall attacking error. The Thundering Herd scored three straight to cut the deficit to one, down 10-9, before an error on WVU later tied things 11-11. Marshall rolled out three in a row to lead 17-14, then scored four straight to take a 22-16 advantage before the streak was ended by an Anderson kill. Attea added a pair of kills, but it wasn’t enough as back-to-back kills gave Marshall the 25-19 set win.
A trio of Mountaineers each had three kills in set two as West Virginia struggled offensively, hitting .161. Marshall took a 7-3 lead before five straight gave the Thundering Herd a 15-8 lead on a block. WVU couldn’t find an offensive rhythm, hampered by six attacking errors. The two teams traded points, but the Mountaineers failed to rally and fell 25-15 in set two as Marshall took a 2-0 advantage in the match.
West Virginia fared better in set three, hitting .200 with just three errors, but couldn’t come up with the set win. Marshall jumped out to a 6-2 advantage before making it 12-7 on a kill. McCoy and Konstantinidou each had a kill, as did Sackett, but the Thundering Herd took a 19-13 lead on a block, forcing WVU into a timeout. West Virginia scored four straight with Marshall at match point, but a kill would cap things off in favor of the Thundering Herd, who took the set 25-22 to win the match 3-0.
The Mountaineers resume Big 12 play on Saturday when they head to Ames, Iowa, for a 2 p.m. ET match at Iowa State.
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