Southern Miss fell to Marshall 3-0 on Thursday in Huntington, West Virginia, losing the sets 25-17, 25-23 and 27-25. The Golden Eagles, now 16-10 overall and 7-8 in the Sun Belt, mounted late rallies in the second and third sets but did not win either.
Marshall took control late in the opening set, building a 22-14 lead before closing it out. Southern Miss pulled within one point at 23-22 in the second set after a pair of Sadie McAda kills and a block assist. Sunni Sheppard’s service ace tied the score at 23, but Marshall claimed the final two points.
The Golden Eagles had their strongest push in the third. An ace by Lowther capped a 6-0 run that tied the set at 8, and four McAda kills during that stretch helped Southern Miss move ahead. McAda later added an ace and a kill as the Golden Eagles took an 18-13 lead.
Marshall rallied to tie the set at 18 and went ahead 23-20. Southern Miss then scored four straight points to take a 25-24 lead, with Elly Stewart’s ace, a block by Stewart and Allie Hazelwood, and two McAda kills fueling the comeback. Marshall answered with three consecutive points to finish the match. McAda had 11 kills in the set.
McAda led the match with 16 kills and hit .429. Diana Wells had 13 kills, while Stewart added eight and hit .538. Hazelwood recorded 41 assists, and Sheppard led all players with 15 digs. Morgen Durgens had 10 digs.
Southern Miss had 46 kills, hit .277 and recorded five aces, 52 digs and four blocks. Marshall finished with 51 kills, a .347 hitting percentage, three aces, 45 digs and seven blocks. The teams are scheduled to meet again Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern time, or 5 p.m. Central time, according to the team’s schedule.
