Herd Volleyball Falls in Opener to Miami, 3-0
Billingy Leads All Players with 21 Kills

Nickie Sanlin and Katie Stein attempt a block Monday night<br>Photo by Matt Riley

Nickie Sanlin and Katie Stein attempt a block Monday night
Photo by Matt Riley

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Aug. 29, 2005

Oxford, Ohio - The Thundering Herd volleyball team got off to a shaky start in its season opener against Miami (Ohio) Monday night at Millett Hall dropping the match 3-0 (23-30, 21-30, 24-30) to the RedHawks.

The Herd dropped all three games to its former Mid-American Conference rivals to open the 2005 campaign as it enters Conference USA.

"Tonight we were outplayed and outcoached by a better team," Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs said. "They're a really good team and they really wanted it and we didn't play with the same level of heart tonight."

With the score tied at 12 in game one, the RedHawks went on a 9-2 run to open up a 21-14 advantage over the Herd and was in command for the rest of the opening frame thanks to a string of kills by Carli Reihman, Jeanna Staun and Kate Norris. Kelly-Anne Billingy led the Herd with seven kills in the first game, while Christin Bimberg added four.

In game two, the RedHawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never looked back as the squad rolled to a 30-21 win to take a 2-0 advantage into intermission.

The Herd came back in game three with more bounce in their step and jumped out to the early lead, but could never push the margin to more than four. Trailing 16-12, the RedHawks fought back into the game and forced two quick timeouts by Jacobs after they pulled ahead 18-16. Miami would add on to its lead and didn't look back as it went on to take the third and final game 30-24.

"We've been getting after them about communication and lack of executing and I think they'll pay more attention to it now after tonight," Jacobs said. "We're a good team, but we have to realize we have to work hard to get there after getting beat by a good team."

For the match, Marshall hit only .198 as a team compared to .340 for the RedHawks. Billingy led all players with 21 kills on the night for a .349 clip. Kristen Walters led Miami with 11 kills and Rehman finished with 10. Marshall setter Katie Stein finished with 37 assists, as did her counterpart Megan Clark from Miami.

Also for the Herd, Stephanie Cahill led the team with eight digs while Amber Sims and Nickie Sanlin both contributed two block solos on the night.

"One match doesn't make a season," Jacobs said. "We're still going to be good. We can't get down and we've got to get after it and be ready to play the defending ACC Champs Friday night."

The Thundering Herd is back in action at 7 p.m. Friday night against defending ACC champions, the Maryland Terrapins at the Terps tournament also featuring UT-Arlington and Rutgers.