HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss volleyball team picked up perhaps its biggest win of the season Sunday afternoon, defeating Rice in five sets [25-20, 26-28, 23-25, 25-20, 15-9] in maintaining its hold on the top spot in the league. The Golden Eagles move to 20-3 on the year and 8-1 in conference play. Rice fell to 14-6 overall and 6-3 in C-USA.
Sophomore Caitlin Clarke recorded her first career 20-kill performance in leading four players in double digit kills. Angela Hlavaty and Ashley Mell put down 15 kills each and Sarah Jane Bowden added 13. The trio of Bowden, Hlavaty and Mell accounted for 17 total blocks. Kelsea Seymour registered 60 assists.
Senior Maia Ivanova headed a solid defensive effort, tallying a match-high 28 digs followed by Mell with 17 and Hlavaty adding 12.
“I thought this was a great match,” Coach Ricci Luyties said. “Everyone on our team played well which I knew we had to in order to beat a team like Rice. This team has been doing this all year long, where in any situation they don’t quit and I thought today was another good example of how much heart we have. Losing that second set the way that we did with it being so close and going back and forth the whole way, and then, losing the third game we could have easily just quit and gone home. However, we fought back again like we’ve done all year and I’m just really proud of them for that.”
Southern Miss ran out to a 6-1 lead to start the opening set. Mell and Hlavaty provided most the offense as both players recorded five and four kills, respectively. The Eagles outhit the Owls, .303 to .094. Rice was able to cut into the Southern Miss lead, getting with four on several occasions, but the Eagles were able to hold on to a 25-20 win.
Set two featured 19 ties. The teams battled back and forth, not allowing any type of lead. Late in the set with Rice leading 24-23 and serving for set point, but Jenn McClean serve landed in the net to tie the set at 24-24. The Eagles took the lead, 25-24, on a Rice attack error, but could not finish the set as Bogan put down a kill for another tie. Clarke came right back with a kill to give Southern Miss a lead and serving for set point. However, a Golden Eagle attack error knotted the set at 26-26. Rice’s Meredith Schamun recorded an ace, followed by a Nancy Cole and Ashleigh McCord block ended the set for a 28-26 Owl win.
Following the intermission, Rice raced out to an 8-2 lead to start the third set behind the one-two punch of Cole and Jessie Boulavsky. Clarke then sparked a 6-0 Southern Miss run in helping to tie the set at 8-8. Rice followed with two quick points to retake the lead, 10-8. The Owls eventually pushed their lead to five, 20-15, but Southern Miss scored four straight points to cut the lead to one, 20-19, and that was as close as Southern Miss would get as Rice took a two set to one lead, 25-23.
Southern Miss opened set four with a 4-0 lead, forcing the Owls to take a timeout. However, the Eagles continued to maintain their lead the remainder of the set. Bowden recorded six kills and freshman Brianna Arvin added three blocks in helping the Eagles force a fifth set, 25-20.
In the final stanza, Southern Miss popped out to a 3-1 lead, but Rice came right back to tie the set at 4-4. With the set knotted at 5-5, the Eagles got a kill from Clarke and Hlavaty and a block by Mell to push their lead to 8-5. Following the changeover, a block by McClean and Natalie Bogan sparked a 3-0 run to tie the set at 8-8 and forced Southern Miss to take a timeout. Following the timeout, USM promptly ran off four straight points for a 12-8 lead and ending the set with a 3-1 run for a 15-9 win.
“I thought Kelsea had a great match with 60 assists and really did a great job of setting the offense and getting the ball to the right people at the right time,” said Luyties. “Caitlin had 20 kills for us and really come on through the end of that set with some important kills. And again, we had four players with double figures in kills.”
McCord led four Owls in double digit kills with 14, followed by Boulavsky with 12, Bogan and McClean added 11 apiece. Tracey Lam notched a team-high 22 digs with McClean and McCord adding 15 and 13, respectively. Bogan and Cole had seven blocks each.
Southern Miss returns to action, Oct. 22, for its annual “Dig Pink” contest when the Eagles host Marshall at 7 p.m.
