Oct. 14, 2007

Box Score

HUNTINGTON, W.V. -

Marshall 3, Memphis 2
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Memphis (16-8; 5-3 C-USA)     30  30  23  25   8
Marshall (14-8; 7-1 C-USA)    28  25  30  30  15

Ashley Liford hammered away 22 kills and added 12 digs, but ultimately Memphis was unable to overcome 17 service aces by Marshall in a 3-2 loss on Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers routed the Herd in the first two sets, posting a .450 percentage in game one and following with a .372 clip to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. Led by six kills from Liford, Memphis committed just two errors on 20 kills in the opener. The Tigers committed just two errors again en route to seemingly taking control of the contests.

Memphis was unable to get the offense restarted after the break, hitting under .150 for the final three sets. Meanwhile Marshall got six kills from Stephanie Cahill and five more from Jalicia Ross to get on the board with a 30-23 win in game three.

Preseason Player of the Year Kelly-Anne Billingy got going in the fourth, downing five of her team-high 19 kills. Uche Ndubisi made three of her eight blocks on the day to hold Memphis to .143 hitting.

Marshall served up five aces in the final frame to race to a 15-8 final.

The Herd got a match-high six aces from Ndubisi, five from Billingy and three aces from Cahill.

Sarah Bury joined Liford with a double-double of 19 kills and 12 digs. She added four blocks. Shelby Burton slammed 10 kills to go with eight rejections for the Memphis defense. Freshman Kelsey Labrum posted her second consecutive strong performance in league play, posting nine kills and a .471 attacking percentage. Laura Côté set 58 assists. Libero Christine Bach led all players with 17 digs.