The Southern Miss volleyball team (13-12, 5-5 C-USA) continued its home stretch against Marshall (10-14, 3-7 C-USA) for a C-USA showdown Friday night, defeating the Thundering Herd with a final score of 3-1.

To start the first set, Southern Miss jumped off to a 14-9 lead. Senior Alexis Coombs showed power and speed in set one and with the help from her teammates, Southern Miss took set one with a score of 25-20.

With the start of the second set, Marshall and Southern Miss went back and forth with points. Midway through the set, Southern Miss went on a 4-0 run to tie the set 7-7. However, Marshall scored four out of the last five points in the set to take the set 25-19.

Senior Kylie Grandy gave Southern Miss a 3-2 lead to start the third set with a kill. Midway through the third, Southern Miss was leading in just about every category, but Marshall still managed to hang and make the score close. After narrowing the Southern Miss lead to 13-11, the Golden Eagles outscored Marshall 12-10 to take a 25-21 set three win.

Down 9-8 in the fourth set, a 4-0 run helped put the Golden Eagles on top over Marshall and come away with a 25-17 set four win and an overall victory on the night. With 14 and 22 kills respectively, Coombs and Grandy helped to lead the team to a win over Marshall.

Southern Miss Head Coach Stephanie Radecki talked about the energy that her girls played with and what stood out to her.

“I think they played with a lot of energy,” Radecki said. “They play confident and anytime there was a swing of points from Marshall they responded and they played tough even after we lost the second set. They held their composure and pushed even harder. Alexis Coombs stood out with 14 kills on 19 attempts and she hit over .700, which is outstanding and Catherine also played really well and being able to have a middle attack like that is crucial in big matches.”

Southern Miss is set to face UAB at home on Friday, Nov. 2 to continue its homestand. Play at Reed Green Coliseum will begin at 6 p.m.