University of Houston
East Carolina
Volleyball Caps Weekend With Sweep Of East Carolina
10/31/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 31, 2010
Greenville, N.C. - Behind Lucy Charuk's 20 kills, the University of Houston volleyball team won its third-straight match with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-11) sweep of East Carolina Sunday afternoon at Minges Coliseum.
Charuk was one kill shy of tying her career-high, finishing the afternoon with a game-best 20 kills on a .594 hitting percentage. Amber Brooks tallied 38 assists, while Marluci Toazzi had a team-high 17 digs.
With the win, Houston improves to 15-10 on the season and 9-4 in Conference USA play.
"We had a productive weekend on the road because we got better in a couple of aspects of the game," head coach Molly Alvey said. "Today our middle blockers did a nice job of getting themselves available offensively in transition."
"Lucy (Charuk) was incredibly effective and did so by getting herself open with her footwork. We have been working on that with our middle blockers' training sessions. There is some detail work that we will continue to train and improve on as we prepare for our upcoming home matches."
After the two teams traded points to open the match, Houston went on a 6-1 run to take an early 7-2 lead. The Pirates quickly called a timeout, but off the bench UH only extended its lead. Controlling the game with a 19-12 lead, the Cougars capitalized on a strong offensive attack and went on to win the set off back-to-back kills by Ingrida Zauere and Chandace Tryon.
The second set proved to the closest of the match. The Cougars played to a 14-8 lead but allowed ECU to knot the set, 22-22. With the score tied, Charuk gave the Cougars back the lead with a kill and Toazzi set up match point with a second UH kill. The next play would result in an attack error by the Pirates' Whitney Campbell and the Cougars would claim the 25-22 win.
With all the momentum on the Cougar bench, UH sailed to a 15-8 lead in the final set before East Carolina would call its second timeout. The break would only help Houston as they came off the bench to only allow the Pirates to score three more points and earn the 25-11 win.
UP NEXT
Houston returns home to begin a four-match home stand. The Cougars will host UAB and Memphis on Nov. 5-7 and the following weekend with feature a rematch with this weekend's opponents, East Carolina and Marshall.
Fans should note that the match against UAB on Nov. 5 will start at 5 p.m. The match was originally scheduled to start at 7 p.m., but was changed due to the Houston football game. The match on Nov. 7 will start at 1 p.m.
"We are definitely looking forward to getting back in front of our fans," Alvey added. "They have been such a great support to our players and the program. We can always count on them to help us get a few points at home."
The season will conclude with matches at SMU, Tulsa and Rice.
