Oct. 28, 2007

Box Score

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HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team struggled offensively and dropped a 3-0 (27-30, 24-30, 24-30) decision to Marshall, Sunday in Conference USA action at the Athletics/Alumni Center.

Houston (12-11, 7-5 C-USA) hit under .200 in each of the match's three games and only Justine Farmer found double-digit kills. Farmer led all players with 20 kills. Houston also struggled at the net tallying just three blocks to 10.5 for the Herd.

Marshall (18-8, 11-1 C-USA) was paced by 17 kills from Kelly-Anne Billingy and 13 kills from Jalicia Ross in the win.

After trailing 4-0 early in game one, the Cougars used an 8-2 run to take the lead at 8-6. The Cougars would push the lead to as much as four at 14-10, but were unable to hold on. Costly attacking errors enabled Marshall to take a 16-14 lead. The Cougars battled back to knot things at 18 apiece, but that would be as close as they would get and Marshall rank off to the 34-20 win and the three-game sweep.

The Cougars were in a 14-9 hole in game two, but pulled it back within three at 25-22. Some timely hitting from Farmer paced the comeback as she added some of her game-high eight kills. In the end, UH could not overcome a .122 attack percentage and Marshall won the game 30-24 and headed into the break with a 2-0 lead.

Marshall took game one 30-27 on the strength of seven kills off 11 attacks from Ross. The game was nip-and-tuck throughout with the Cougars coming back from an early four-point deficit to lead 25-23. Three-straight kills from Ross gave the Herd a 26-25 lead and Marshall was able to hang on for the opening win.

Houston heads out on the road next weekend, facing UTEP at 8 p.m. CDT Friday and Tulane at 1 p.m. Sunday.