Press Release courtesy of Charlotte Athletics.
Another rivalry meeting between Charlotte and Marshall volleyball lived up to its annual hype with the 49ers scoring a 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-23, 28-26) thrilling victory to open up Conference USA play on Friday night. The win becomes the Niners 11th-straight which sets the new all-time mark regardless of being in the side-out or rally scoring era.
“It feels like we just went to work and had the hardest day of work in our life,” commented Head Coach Karen Weatherington on the battle with Marshall. “This team is about being together. They want to win. Marshall is such a great team. It gets to be about adjustments, we made a couple of changes and are ecstatic about tonight’s win.”
Charlotte (14-3, 1-0 C-USA) opened up the night with three Janell Sparks kills and a combo block by Tatyana Thomas and Alex Boone forced a Marshall time out in an early 9-6 lead for the 49ers. Madison Hill and Jac’cara Walker rallied the Herd back to a 17-17 before another Boone/Thomas block gave the Niners the lead for good at 18-17. Thomas followed with back-to-back kills before a Jocelyn Stoner/Kaylyn Torain block helped ice the opener 25-22.
Marshall (5-11, 0-1) came right back to even the set racing out to a 10-6 lead never looking back. Katie Jacques had three early kills as did Walker for the four-point advantage. The 49ers stormed back to trail 13-12 after a Stoner kill, but two combo blocks by Madelyn Cole, one with Addisyn Rowe and the other with Tiffany Isaacs, extended the lead out to 17-14. Sparks and Stoner kills tried to keep it close at 23-19, by a Rowe kill and combo block by Isaacs/Cole squared the match at one.
In the pivotal third, both teams stayed within two points the entire set as Marshall trailed 15-13 at the TV timeout after a Sparks kill and combo block from Sparks/Boone. The Herd came back to lead 18-16 after two-straight kills from Justice Craft before grabbing another late lead at 22-21 and 23-22 on kills from Walker and Rowe. From there, a Thomas kill and service ace on set point secured the 2-1 match lead with the 25-23 set win.
Halton Arena came alive on the backend of set four as a Herd attack error and another block from Boone/Thomas forced a Marshall time out breaking a 17-17 tie. Sparks gave the Niners their first match point with a kill in a 24-22 set before Marshall stormed right back on Walker and Hill kills leveling things back up at 24-24. Going back-and-forth, Sparks and Sydney Rowan had kills from Charlotte while Marshall had another Hill kill and Charlotte attack error for a 26-26 set. The crowd erupted on a combo block by Thomas and Mackenzie Reaume teeing up the third match point before a final attack error by Marshall clinched the league-opening match in thrilling fashion 28-26.
“We had a great crowd,” finished Weatherington. “It was really loud and it was rocking. We had so many student-athletes, alumni and staff tonight. We are grateful for all the support. We just try to play with passion and do our job on the floor. Our team is trying to create a great product to have people come out and experience the event of volleyball.”
Walker and Hill led the Herd with 18 and 17 kills respectively while Thomas flirted with another career-high posting 16. Thomas also hit .583 on the night, a match-high, while Sparks added a dozen kills and 13 digs. In the setting department, Cole had 53 of the Herd’s 59 assists while Reaume led the Niners with 28. The Niners held the slight 13-12 advantage blocking but Marshall commanded the final digs stat with 92 to Charlotte’s 68.
Charlotte gets back to C-USA action wrapping up opening-weekend hosting league-favorite WKU on Sunday afternoon. First serve is set for 1:00 p.m.and will feature a free post-game youth clinic. Live video and stats will be available at http://www.charlotte49ers.com.
Leave a Reply