THIBODAUX, La. - After giving up an early 2-0 lead, the ULM
volleyball team fought off an attempted comeback by Alabama A&M to pick up
its second victory of the 2011 Bayou Nicholls Invitational by winning in five
sets 3-2 (25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 20-25, 15-10) Saturday afternoon in Thibodaux,
La. The Warhawks end the tournament with a 2-1 record and improve to 6-4 on the
season.
Junior Zuzana Markova earned tournament MVP honors after
topping her own career-best performance from ULM's morning match against
Grambling by collecting a match- and career-best 20 kills along with 21 assists
and 14 digs. Markova now has two triple-doubles in two matches and brings her
season total to six. Freshman Marcela Urbina also beat her own career-best
performance from earlier in the day with 25 digs and was voted the tournament
libero.
Senior Meghan McCoy picked up her 12th career
double-double with a match-high-tying 29 assists and 18 digs. Junior Samantha
Morse and senior Mahogany Dilonga also reached double-digits in kills for the
Warhawks with 16 and 11, respectively.
Alabama A&M (4-13) was led offensively by Karensa Beckford
as she had a team-best 16 kills and 10 digs for a double-double while Clairissa
Mooreas also earned one with 11 kills and 16 digs. Ashley Forman collected 29
assists and Audrey Harris dug up the ball 23 times.
Multiple attack errors caused ULM to fall back 9-2 in the
first set before finding its rhythm with four-straight kills by four different
Warhawks during a 10-point spree to go up 12-9. A 7-5 run extended ULM's lead
to 19-14 before the Bulldogs strung together three points to come within two
19-17. Three more kills by Dilonga, Markova and Morse fueled a final 5-3 run to
end the set 25-20.
The Warhawks grabbed an 8-5 lead in the second set and used two
separate three- and four-point streaks to go ahead by more than double 17-8. A
close 6-5 run followed to put ULM two points away from winning the second game
23-13 when Alabama A&M used an error and back-to-back service aces to try
and stop the Warhawks' momentum. Two final kills by Markova ended that attempt
to give ULM a two-set lead 25-18.
The Bulldogs came out hot in the third set with
four-straight kills to gain an early 6-1 lead before he Warhawks used a 5-2 run
including four-straight points to trail by two points 8-6. Alabama A&M
slowly extended the lead with a 12-7 spree before the Markova smashed three
kills in a row to make the score 20-16. ULM would score just twice more as
errors ended the set in favor of Alabama A&M 25-18.
An intense back-and-forth start to the fourth game involved
seven ties and four lead changes until miscues by ULM allowed Alabama A&M
to take the biggest lead of the set 16-12. Both teams went 5-5 followed by two kills
from Morse and an attack error to put ULM within one 21-20 before the Bulldogs
closed the set with five-straight points to win 25-20 and force the deciding
set.
The Warhawks controlled the final set from the start with
kills by Markova and Dilonga and doubled its lead with an error and two additional
kills to go up 10-5. Alabama A&M was unable to catch ULM as a final 5-5 run
was enough to give the Warhawks the set 15-10 and the match.
ULM begins Sun Belt Conference action next weekend when it
travels to Troy, Ala., to take on Troy Friday at 7 p.m. followed by a trip to
Mobile, Ala., to face South Alabama Saturday at 6 p.m.
