MATCH STATS
- #24 Wichita State def. East Carolina, 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-14)
- Wichita State improves to 23-3, 15-0 AAC; East Carolina falls to 18-10, 9-6 AAC
- Greenville, North Carolina
- Attendance: 676
- Box score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – #24 Wichita State notched yet another AAC victory, this time on the road at East Carolina, in straight sets (25-13, 25-16, 25-14). The Shockers swept through the Pirates in just over an hour of match time. With the win, WSU is now three games up on second place SMU with five conference matches remaining.
Wichita State had five front-row players hit .375 or better, led by setter Emily Hiebert with 40 assists, 8 digs and 7 kills (hitting .667). She directed the offense to an impressive .400 hitting percentage (53-13-100) for the match. Hiebert also had a match-high 3 blocks on the afternoon. Abbie Lehman led the attack with 12 kills, hitting .524, and tying Hiebert for the match lead in blocks with three. Mikaela Raudsepp and Tabitha Brown both pounded 10 kills each, with Raudsepp earning the only double-double of the match by digging a match-high 12 balls. Libero Giorgia Civita added 11 digs to the floor defense and served two of the Shockers’ three aces in the match.
For the Pirates, head coach Julie Torbett said it best:
“Wichita State is a great team with a strong tradition, but I was unhappy with our lack of energy. We will work on that for Sunday because that is part of our DNA here at ECU. We still have a number of goals that we can accomplish this season.”
Disappointing energy aside, the Pirates were led offensively by senior Ashton Mares with 7 kills. She also added 7 digs to the floor defense. Mares is only 34 kills away from being the fifth ECU Pirate all-time to be part of the 1,000 kill/1,000 dig club. Libero Brandee Markwith had a match-high 12 digs for ECU. The loss puts the Pirates in a fourth-place tie with Cincinnati in the AAC.
Wichita State dominated in all aspects of the match statistically. They led in kills (53-25), hitting percentage (.400-.108), aces (3-0), blocks (5-2) and digs (48-30).
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 20 Wichita State hit .400 on the way to a sweep at ECU. The Shockers (23-3, 15-0) won by scores of 25-13, 25-16 and 25-14.
Abbie Lehman led the Shockers with 12 kills and hit .524, while Mikaela Raudsepp had a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. Tabitha Brown added 10 kills, while Emily Hiebert had seven kills, 40 assists and eight digs.
SET 1:
• WSU held ECU to a .029 hitting percentage in a 25-13 win
• Two-straight kills from Tabitha Brown put the Shockers up 6-3
• A 7-0 Shocker run pushed the lead to 16-7
• A 5-0 WSU run gave WSU the 23-9 lead
• ECU used three-straight Shocker errors to pull within 24-13, but a Raudsepp kill gave the Shockers a 25-13 win
• Raudsepp and Brown each had five kills
• Hiebert had 13 assists and Civita had five digs
• The Shockers hit .342 in the set
SET 2:
• The Shockers hit .500 in the second set for a 25-16 win
• The set went back and forth until a Brown kill and Hiebert ace gave the Shockers a 16-13 lead
• Two-straight kills from Emma Wright pushed the lead to 18-14
• WSU closed out the set on a 7-1 run for a 25-16 win
SET 3:
• WSU swept the match with a 25-14 win
• Lehman’s kill gave WSU an early 7-3 lead
• A 5-0 Shocker run pushed the lead to 12-5
• Another 5-0 run gave WSU a 19-8 lead
• Hiebert’s kill made the score 23-12 and WSU used a Brown kill to close it out 25-14
Courtesy of East Carolina Athletics
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The ECU volleyball team matched up with No. 20 Wichita State for the second time this season Friday afternoon, dropping a 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-14) decision to the Shockers inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
Team Records: ECU (18-10, 9-6 AAC) | Wichita State (23-3, 15-0 AAC)
Senior outside hitter Ashton Mares paced the offense with seven kills while senior middle hitter Natalie Montini put down five kills and turned in a .417 hitting percentage. Abbie Lehman led the Shockers with 12 kills and a .524 hitting mark.
Wichita State hit .400 for the match, recording 53 kills on 100 attempts with 15 attacking errors, while the Pirates ended up at .108 after compiling 25 kills on 93 attempts with 15 errors. The Shockers also held the upper hand in digs (48-30) and total blocks (5.0 – 2.0).
Torbett’s Take: “Wichita State is a great team with a strong tradition, but I was unhappy with our lack of energy. We will work on that for Sunday because that is part of our DNA here at ECU. We still have a number of goals that we can accomplish this season.”
Set One: The teams split the first six points of the opening frame before a kill by Emma Wright put the visitors ahead 8-4. The Pirates pulled within 9-7 on a solo block by sophomore middle hitter Toya Osuegbu, but a 7-0 run by Wichita State put the set out of reach.
Set Two: The second stanza was much closer early on as an attacking error by Alex Koon knotted the score at 11. The Shockers led 19-16 before scoring the final six points to win the set and take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
Set Three: Wichita State broke open a close third frame with a 5-0 run that made the score 12-5. After an ECU timeout, the Shockers started to pull away, building a 20-9 cushion before sealing the match on a kill by Tabitha Brown.
News and Notes
- The Pirates dropped to 11-5 at home and 5-2 against American Athletic Conference opponents.
- Mares needs 34 more kills to become the fifth player in program history to notch 1,000 career kills and digs.
- Of ECU’s last four losses, two have occurred against the nationally-ranked Shockers
- The Pirates fell into a fourth-place tie with Cincinnati for fourth-place in the conference standings.
Leave a Reply