University of Houston
Southern Miss
Volleyball Wins Fourth-Straight, Knocking Off Southern Miss, 3-1
10/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 9, 2010
HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team won its fourth-straight Conference USA match, knocking off Southern Miss 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23) Saturday afternoon at the Athletics/Alumni Center.
Four Cougars recorded double-digit kills in the win. Stephanie Nwachukwu led the team with 14 kills and three blocks. Chandace Tryon added 12 kills and Marluci Toazzi, Ingrida Zauere and Lucy Charuk finished with 10 kills each.
With the win, Houston improves to 10-8 on the season and 4-2 in league play.
"We did a phenomenal job of staying patient and staying consistent with our game," head coach Molly Alvey said. "Southern Miss is a team that keeps sending the ball back to you and we were able to keep our composure and push forward."
The tone was set early in the match as the two teams battled back and forth in the first set. It wasn't until the score read 17-13, in the Cougars' favor, that the set started to reveal a possible winner. Houston extended that lead to 20-15, prompting a halt in play from the visitor bench. Out of the break, UH saw kills from three different players en route to a first set win, 25-20.
Southern Miss jumped out of the gate to take a 7-1 lead in the second set and never looked back. Despite winning by just three points, Houston was never able to put a run together that would give them the lead and the Golden Eagles would go on to even the match with a 25-22 second-set win.
The third set picked up where the first set ended, with a battle for every point. Houston led by just two points, 20-18, at the 20-point mark and that quickly forced Southern Miss to call a timeout. The Cougars came off the bench and stole the next two points but the Golden Eagles came back to within one, 24-23. Alvey called a timeout to regroup her team and out of the break a Tryon kill gave UH the win.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set, taking a similar approach as they had in the second, but this time UH was able to dig out of the hole, taking a 10-9 lead. The two teams battled the rest of the way, but Houston was able to hold on to the lead and earn the win, 25-23.
"The match came down to the fourth set. Stephanie (Nwachukwu) had a big block and Marluci (Toazzi) had a big kill," Alvey said. "A good team plays point for point and at the end you have a couple people step up and make points for you. That's what we did today and I am very pleased."
UP NEXT
Houston will be back on the court on Sunday for a rematch with the Golden Eagles. The match is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
