It has been a month since Southern Miss has played at home in Reed Green Coliseum. The Golden Eagles (13-5) hosted Marshall (13-6) Friday in their highly-anticipated homecoming game and delivered with a 3-0 victory.
Marshall started game one strong, taking an early 11-6 lead on the Golden Eagles. A 10-4 run would demolish the lead for Marshall and give Southern Miss the 16-15 lead. The 11-6 lead would be one of the two leads for Marshall throughout the three games.
Southern Miss did not let the momentum fall to Marshall as they were able to obtain an 8-2 lead. The six-point lead forced Marshall to call a timeout in hopes of killing some of the Golden Eagles’ momentum. The timeout was ineffective as Southern Miss went on to build the lead even more to 14-8 off of four attack errors committed by Marshall.
Southern Miss went on to win set two, 25-15.
Early in the third set, both teams would trade points back-to-back, as neither team could gain the momentum to obtain a lead higher than two. Six Golden Eagle kills and a plethora of errors by Marshall led to Southern Miss gaining the much-needed advantage to win the set, 25-16.
“It was a good rebound from our last match at [Texas-San Antonio],” said Head Coach Amanda Berkley. “They just played really well. I think we just played low-air volleyball. Kylie Grandy had a great match for us, and she didn’t have any errors. She served really well, and I think it was one of her first matches where she didn’t have any service errors.”
Grandy entered Friday night’s contest fourth in C-USA in aces with 0.39 per set. Grandy’s two service aces Friday elevated her to second in conference USA.
There were other achievements for Southern Miss in their home showing. The Golden Eagles held Marshall to only a .103 hitting percentage, recording this performance as the best defensive work for the Golden Eagles this season. Also, this is the fourth consecutive meeting between Southern Miss and Marshall where Southern Miss has won all four under coach Berkley.
Southern Miss looks to keep the streak going as they play host against Western Kentucky Thursday at home. The first game is set for 6:00 p.m.
