Spring Break
Volleyball wins East Carolina Invitational
Hart Holloman
Issue date: 9/23/08 Section: Sports
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ECU defeated Marshall for the first time in program history Friday night, and followed up by defeating Morgan State Saturday afternoon before falling to N.C. State during the nightcap.
The Pirates came away tournament champions by virtue of tiebreakers, and junior outside hitter Melissa Zentner was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Fellow teammates Amanda Lutzow and Trish Monroe joined her on the all-tournament team.
ECU started the weekend with-on paper-their toughest match of the tournament.
The Thundering Herd had won the previous eight meetings between the two teams, including a disappointing loss for ECU in five games at home last year.
The Pirates looked tough early on, but the Herd took the first game 26-24. After losing the opening game, ECU turned up the tempo and took the next three games in convincing fashion.
"Marshall was 8-0 against ECU until now," said Head Coach Chris Rushing. "I think you can tell by the reaction of the girls at the end how excited they were to beat Marshall, who is a very good conference opponent."
Rushing was pleased with the effort put forth by his players during the match, and there's no doubt their hard work and tough play was instrumental in the victory.
"We played really, really hard tonight. Statistically, both teams were almost identical and it was a fight to the finish. We knew it was going to be a battle, we knew they were going to be close, and it was a total team effort today," Rushing said. "When the girls got down a couple of times here and there, they really fought through it and pulled together to get the win."
The next match up of the weekend for the Pirates was with MEAC foe Morgan State. ECU dominated the Bears, winning three games with scores of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-18. The Pirates dominated every stat category and almost doubled Morgan State's kills and assists totals.
The nightcap was not as kind for ECU.
ECU lost to N.C. State in a heartbreaker that went five games. The Pirates jumped out to a 2-0 lead before running out of gas and dropping the last three games, falling to their in-state rivals. Zentner had a terrific game with 16 kills and five blocks, while freshman sensation Lutzow tallied the first double-double of her career in the losing effort with 13 kills and 15 digs.
Rushing acknowledged how important it was to build momentum this weekend before opening up their full conference schedule.
"There are a lot of momentum shifts and swings in volleyball," he said. "This can only help our momentum going forward."
ECU has two conference matches at home this weekend. The Pirates will take on UAB Friday night a 7 p.m., and then Memphis Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com.
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