Mountaineers and Marshall ready to settle in-state rivalry: Volleyball News
The Women’s Volleyball team of West Virginia University shares a great rivalry with the Thundering Herd of Marshall University and the two arch-rivals are scheduled to meet today in Huntington, West Virginia in the final match of the season at the Cam Henderson
Centre in Huntington. In the past, the two teams have crossed paths 44 times. Previous stats say that Mountaineers hold a 28-16 advantage over Marshall. In the running season, WVU has compiled a 7-18 record whereas Marshall stands at 9-21.
WVU will be relying on the duo of Kylie Armbruster and Michelle Kopecky, who make a strong offence and team Coach Karmer has a lot of faith in his players. So far, they have scored 241 and 199 kills for Mountaineers in the regular season. Moreover, Kopecky
also has the distinction of adding 29 service-aces, while Armbruster coming third in the team with 172 digs. Thundering Herd will have to focus on Armbruster and Kopecky, in order to keep the operations of game well under control.
Setters and liberos play an instrumental role in the success of any team in matches. WVU will have the support of Kari Post as setter of the team, whereas Serinna Russo will act as the first libero for Mountaineers. In the previous match against USF volleyball
squad, Kari Post pitched out 45 assists and achieved a landmark by putting her career total at 3,339. Equally talented Russo finished with 29 digs in the last match and overall scored 503 digs, which moved her up to No. 3 on the digs in a single-season.
Marshall also bagged a great victory over CUSA in the previous match on Wednesday. They held off East Carolina for a 3-0 victory and earned the confidence to face Mountaineers in the next match. Thundering Herd’s Abby Tomas leads the offense with 349 kills
and she poses a big threat to WVU. Tomas is an excellent hitter and she is known for using both her mind and hands in the game. She was named CUSA Offensive player of the Week at the start of this month.
The mentor of WVU, Jill Kramer, said that she has always enjoyed the rivalry. Remembering a tough match against Marshall from last season, he stated: “We have a great one with Marshall playing for the Golden Ball every year and we worked really hard last
year in preparation for that match. We played them before Pitt last year so it was the first time I had really seen our fans come out to support us and I thought the players really thrived from it. We worked really hard in that match and we were able to sweep
them and keep the Golden Ball here for a year.”
He further added that he has talked to his counterpart, the head coach of Marshall, about the upcoming match when two teams will strike against each other on the Thanksgiving weekend. This match will give the perfect chance to players to prove their endeavours.
Mountaineers are tipped to win the match as they have beaten Marshall many a times in the past. Only time will show who plays better and wins.
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