Oct. 12, 2008

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -

Southern Miss 3, Memphis 1

Memphis (12-9; 3-4 C-USA)           19  25  23  21
Southern Miss (13-7; 3-4 C-USA)     25  22  25  25

Emily Underwood hit .393 with 12 kills and Christine Bach made a match-high 24 digs, but Memphis was unable to hold off Southern Miss as the Golden Eagles snapped a seven-match losing streak to the Tigers with a 3-1 win in C-USA action on Sunday afternoon. The loss was Memphis' first to Southern Miss since 2003 and marked the first time the Tigers have been swept in league play since 2006.

Southern Miss dominated Memphis in the opening set, controlling play with its offense. The Golden Eagles posted a 19-9 advantage in kills, an 18-8 lead in assists and hit .412. Memphis led 4-1 after Emily Underwood connected for her first kill of the day, but USM quickly erased that lead by scoring on six of the next seven serves to take a two-point cushion. Memphis kept the contest close, as a strike by Lauren Thompson tied things at 8-8. That would be the closest the game would be. USM used a pair of Tiger errors to score the next four points and take a commanding 12-8 lead. Rebekah Strickland downed one of her 10 kills on the day and followed with an assisted block to fuel a three-point push that cut Memphis' deficit to a single point at 15-14. Southern Miss put the set away with four straight scores late in the game that made it 24-18.

Memphis got out to an identical 4-1 start in the second. This time, however, the Tigers used a USM service error and consecutive kills by Laura Côté and Casey Sines to extend the lead to 10-4. A termination by Underwood gave Memphis its largest lead at 15-8. The Golden Eagles then went on a 7-2 to tie the set at 17. Another kill from Côté broke an 18-18 tie and sent the Tigers on a three point run for a 21-18 cushion late in the period. With a 23-22 lead, Memphis got a critical block from Underwood and Strickland to earn the set-point serve. Katlin Inglish put down a kill to seal the set and send both teams into the break tied at 1-1.

The two squads battled through nine ties before Southern Miss got a block assist and a service error on back-to-back rallies to push ahead 15-13. A Golden Eagle forced a Memphis timeout. The Tigers regroup and a spike by Strickland tied the set at 20. Inglish and Sines teamed up for an assisted block to knot the frame at 22, but USM came back to take the next two points to make it a 24-22 game. Strickland downed a kill to close the gap to 24-23, but an attack error by the Tigers closed the set out and gave Southern Miss the 2-1 advantage in the match.

Despite the close score the Golden Eagles held the advantage serve throughout the fourth and final set. Memphis led 3-0 early on but USM came back to tie the game six times before taking a 9-8 lead. From there the Golden Eagles completed a five-point run to rally ahead 12-8. A serving error by the Tigers made it 15-10 in favor of Southern Miss. Memphis was unable to recover in a 25-21 loss.

Southern Miss's Angela Hlavaty led all players with 17 kills, while Sarah Jane Bowden and Lauren Sears recorded 14 and 11 kills each. Kelsea Seymour put up a match-best 47 assists. Defensively for USM, libero Maia Ivanova picked up 20 digs. Seymour and Hlavaty completed double-double outings with 14 and 10 digs, respectively. Bowden made eight block assists.