NORFOLK, Va. – Marshall spoiled Old Dominion volleyball’s return to its home court on Friday night as the Monarchs fell 3-1 to the Thundering Herd in a Sun Belt East Division matchup.
“We played pretty subpar today, and that was disappointing,” said ODU Head Coach Fred Chao. “We’ve got to put tonight in perspective for a little bit and solve the problems. We’ve got to figure out what the issues actually were and see if we can address them. If not, then we could be in a similar situation [tomorrow] and it’s a lot when you’re missing this many serves and making blatant errors.”
Marshall 3, ODU 1
Marshall never trailed in an opening set that featured just one tie at 1-1. Elisa Maggi put away a ball from Ashlynn Belcher to cut the visitors' lead to 6-5 in the first set, but the Herd (12-12, 3-8 Sun Belt) took off with a 5-0 run to go ahead, 11-5. Down 18-13 and coming out of a timeout, an Emma Schelah kill started a 4-0 run that got the Monarchs (15-7, 4-5) back to within a point at 18-17. A couple of late kills from Myah Conway and Schelah kept ODU alive at 24-23, but Marshall’s Olivia Fogo converted her attack to clinch the set for the visitors.
The Monarchs scored the first four points of the second set and an ace from Hailee Blankenship pushed that lead to 10-5. However, the Herd scored 10 unanswered points to wrestle away control. Belcher assisted Conway to even the set at 16-16, but Marshall secured eight of the next nine points to go up, 24-17. A block by Izzy Collier and Sarah Stratton made it 25-19 as the guests grabbed another set.
ODU again got off to a quick start in the third set with an early 5-1 advantage, but Marshall continued to chip away at that lead and a couple of Beatrice Ciccarelli service aces highlighted a 6-0 push that put the Herd in front, 15-11. The Monarchs caught up at 19-19 thanks to a kill by Maggi, a block by Schelah and Conway, and an ace by Belcher. The hosts then regained the lead and forced a Marshall timeout with another block from Maggi and Schelah. Bryanna Jones and Belcher blocked a Marshall attack attempt to tie the set at 23-23, LeeAnne Lowery then followed with a kill, and ODU earned the set point as Jones and Lowery made another block.
An Alexa Earle service ace gave the Monarchs a 5-2 lead to open the fourth set. A couple of blocks and a Mckenzie Schoenhardt ace helped Marshall overtake ODU at 8-6. The Monarchs kept the set close from there, but a late 4-0 run gave the Herd some space at 24-18. Belcher found Conway for a kill, but a kill by Fogo brought the match to an end.
Conway turned in a 19-kill, 11-dig double-double and Maggi was right behind her with an 18-kill, 14-dig double-double. Jones and Lowery both contributed eight kills on the night, Belcher eclipsed 50 assists for the third time in the last five matches with 51, and five different servers recorded an ace. Schelah led the effort at the net with four blocks, one of them solo, and Belcher and Jones tallied two blocks each. Also tallying double-digit digs was Kate Kilpatrick with 14.
ODU combined to hit .240 in the match while Marshall hit for .278. The Monarchs held the advantage in points (72-70), kills (60-49), assists (55-47) and digs (59-50), but the Herd served more aces (9-6) and made more blocks (12-6). ODU also committed 14 service errors while the visitors limited themselves to four.
Up Next
ODU and Marshall return to the court tomorrow for the second match of their Sun Belt series. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.