The Southern Miss volleyball team (9-9, 3-2 C-USA) picked up its second straight conference win in a four-set victory over the Charlotte 49ers (11-9, 1-3 C-USA) Friday night.
“Overall, I think we did a really nice job,” Southern Miss Head Coach Stephanie Radecki said. “I felt like we ran some great things offensively when we were in system. When we were in system we did a nice job of putting the ball away.”
In the first set, Charlotte jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead over the Golden Eagles, which eventually expanded to a 7-3 advantage for the 49ers. Southern Miss chipped away at that Charlotte lead, eventually going on a five-point run to take an 8-7 lead. Charlotte kept things close the rest of the way, but Southern Miss clinched the set one victory by a score of 26-24.
The momentum from the win in the first set carried over to the second set for the Golden Eagles early on, as the team started the set on a 3-1 run. Charlotte matched that with a subsequent three-point run of its own to take a 4-3 lead. However, Southern Miss quickly regained the lead and held on for a 25-21 win in set two.
Charlotte responded in the third set by jumping out to an early 8-3 lead in set three. Southern Miss eventually tied the set 17-17, but Charlotte outscored the Golden Eagles 8-2 the rest of the way for a 25-19 set win.
Southern Miss sealed the overall win with a 25-19 victory in set four. The team built up a 22-14 lead in the set and then withstood a 5-1 Charlotte run to come away with the set win.
Four Southern Miss players recorded double-digit kill totals on the night. Senior Kylie Grandy led the team with 20, followed by junior Catherine Repsher with 14, sophomore Chandler Marshall with 12 and senior Alexis Coombs with 11. Senior Sarah Bell also added to her season assist total with 55 against Charlotte, and was second on the team in digs with 12, behind the 20 digs from sophomore Madison Lawler.
“Cat [Repsher] is having a great year. She has done an amazing job for us,” Radecki said. “Kylie [Grandy] is just a really consistent player for us offensively and defensively, and she had another great night. I thought Sarah [Bell] did an amazing job distributing the ball, and her serving was a big key for us to finish that fourth set.
Southern Miss will take the court again on Sunday when they face Rice. The Owls sit atop the C-USA standings with a 4-0 conference record and a 13-4 overall record. Play in Reed Green Coliseum is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
