Women's Basketball Announces 2008-09 Schedule
Herd to play 16 home games in upcoming season
Sept. 24, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Thundering Herd women's basketball coach Royce
Chadwick announced the 2008-09 schedule, which will feature 29 regular
season games and the largest home schedule in 26 seasons.
After playing 21 out of 33 games on the road last season, Marshall will
play 16 games at the Cam Henderson Center this season, the most home games
since the 1982-83 season when the Herd played 17 contests at home.
"It was very difficult last year, but I think the experience made our team
tough once March rolled around," Chadwick said. "But we are going to reap
the benefits this year having those home games, it will be huge because we
have so many new players."
Marshall will host two preseason exhibition games on November 2 and 8,
facing the Exodus All Stars and the DT-3 All Stars. The regular season for
MU will begin with a road game against former Southern Conference foe
Appalachian State.
Following the opener, the Herd will play the next five contests at home
and eight of the next nine. The important stretch begins with the November
17 home opener against North Texas. On the following weekend, MU will host
its annual Fifth Third Classic, which will feature Louisiana Monroe,
Morgan State and Tennessee State. The Herd will face Tennessee State in
its opening game of the tournament.
Games against Morehead State and UT Arlington wrap up the home stand
before the Herd travels to South Orange, N.J. on December 6 for its first
ever meeting against Big East member Seton Hall. Marshall will then return
to Huntington for three games before Christmas break, facing Ohio U.,
Houston Baptist and Richmond prior to break.
After a nine-day layoff, MU will return to action at the Terrapin Classic
on College Park, Md. The Herd will face SEC foe and 2008 WNIT participant
Mississippi State on December 29 before facing either Maryland or UNC
Asheville the next day. Maryland, who came to Huntington two seasons ago
as the top team in the nation, was a No. 1 seed in last year's NCAA
Tournament after recording a 30-3 record.
Four days later, Marshall will embark on its fourth season in Conference
USA, opening with three games on the road. The conference schedule begins
with a January 3 game at East Carolina. Things do not get an easier from
there as MU will face SMU and Tulsa the next week, teams MU has a combined
1-6 record against. That trip begins with a game at Moody Coliseum against
defending C-USA champion SMU on Thursday January 8 before facing Tulsa two
days later.
The Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic is set to take place on the 14th as
MU will face up against West Virginia. Last year, Marshall played the
12th-ranked Mountaineers tough before falling by a score of 58-51. After
the Capital Classic, the Herd will open its conference home schedule with
three games at the Cam Henderson Center.
East Carolina opens up that part of the schedule on January 18, followed
by games against UAB and Memphis the following week. Marshall will then
travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. to face the Golden Eagles in what could be a
battle of the top two teams in C-USA. That will be followed by a trip to
UCF.
The Herd begins the final month of the regular season with a home contest
against Tulane on February 5. Three days later, MU will travel to face
defending regular season champion UTEP. Four of the Herd's final six games
will be at home, beginning the next week with a Friday game against UCF.
On February 15, one of the most highly anticipated games in team history
will take place. The Herd will play host to Southern Miss in a game that
will mark the first game in program history to be nationally televised on
ESPN2. It will also mark the annual Jam the Cam game.
Marshall's final road trip of the season will take them to Birmingham,
Ala. to face UAB on the 20th before traveling to Memphis on the 22nd. The
regular season will wrap up with home games against Houston and Rice.
The 2009 Conference USA Tournament will take place from March 5-8. Tulane
University will host the tournament at Fogelman Arena in New Orleans.
Marshall will look to continue its tournament success after winning two
games last season in Orlando.
Marshall returns four starters from last season's team, which came within
minutes of advancing to the Conference USA Championship game. Senior Casey
Baker leads the group, which also includes juniors Alyssa Hammond and
Chantelle Handy along with sophomore Tynikki Crook, who recorded a
double-double in each of Marshall's tournament games last season.
Women's Tennis Set to Compete in Spartan Invitational
The Thundering Herd Travels to East Lansing, Mich.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University women's tennis team will
travel to East Lansing, Mich. this weekend to compete in the third annual
Spartan Invitational at the Michigan State University campus. This year
will mark the 19th year Michigan State has hosted a fall invitational.
The Thundering Herd will begin the invitational at 8 a.m., Saturday with
doubles competition against Cleveland State. Marshall will then face Akron
and Michigan State in all day singles competition.
The invitational will conclude Sunday with an 8 a.m. doubles match against
Bowling Green State and singles contests with Detroit Mercy and Louisville
in all day play.
Eight teams will be competing this weekend including Michigan State,
Marshall, Bowling Green State, Akron, Detroit Mercy, Toledo, Louisville,
and Cleveland State.
"This will be a new tournament for us," Marshall's head coach John Mercer
said. "We are looking forward to going to Michigan State and playing
against good competition."
Marshall registered a 4-5 overall doubles and a 5-16 overall singles
record in its opening weekend of competition against Old Dominion (ODU),
Virginia (UVa), Virginia Commonwealth (VCU), South Carolina and
UNC-Greensboro, at the second annual University of Virginia Invitational.
The 42nd-ranked Kellie Schmitt (Pittsburgh, Pa.) went 2-1 last weekend
with victories over Virginia's Emily Fraser and 100th-ranked Nadine Fahoum
from Old Dominion. The senior fell to South Carolina's 54th-ranked Ana
Zubori in the final day of competition.
Sophomore Isabell Raich (Klaus, Austria) also finished 2-1 in Marshall's
opening weekend with victories over Old Dominion's Marija Citic and Alex
Bara from Virginia Commonwealth. South Carolina's Natasa Vuckovic defeated
Raich in the closing day of play.
Junior transfer Deanna Bailey (McDonough, Ga.) went 1-2 in the opening
weekend and took the Herd's sole singles victory over South Carolina's
Miljana Jocic in concluding action Sunday.
Bailey was the only player to have three doubles wins in Marshall's
opening weekend. Schmitt and Jessica Keener (Reston, Va.) both finished
2-1 in doubles action last weekend.
"We have been working hard to prepare this week," Coach Mercer continued.
"We hope to see improvement from the first weekend to this weekend."
Volleyball Set For C-USA Home Opening Weekend
The Herd hosts Memphis and UAB this weekend.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University volleyball team will host the
Memphis Tigers in its Conference USA home opener, Friday, Sept. 26.
First-serve is slated for 7:00 p.m. at the Cam Henderson Center.
The Thundering Herd will then welcome the UAB Blazers to Huntington,
Sunday. Match-time is set for 1:00 p.m. at the Henderson Center.
Marshall owns a 5-1 all-time record against Memphis, sweeping the season
series in 2007. The Herd leads UAB 4-2 all-time, and split the 2007 series
with the Blazers 1-1.
Marshall enters weekend action 7-4 overall, 0-1 C-USA and is on a
two-match winning streak. After dropping a 3-1 decision to East Carolina
in the league opener for both teams, the Herd took a 3-1 contest from
North Carolina State, before sweeping Morgan State 3-0 at the ECU
Invitational. With the win over the Bears, head coach Mitch Jacobs totaled
his 139th career victory at Marshall, and is now the program's all-time
leader in wins, surpassing former coach Linda Holmes.
Elizabeth Herman (Dunwoody, Ga.) opened invitational action with a 17-kill
effort against the Pirates, a match-high, while Kristin Marcum (Arlington,
Texas) and Jalicia Ross (Bank Village, Trinidad) added 14 kills apiece in
the loss. Elizabeth Fleming (South Bend, Ind.) handed out 47 assists while
Jessica Dhoore chipped in 18 digs, both match-bests.
The Herd regrouped against NC State, as Marcum blasted a match-high 19
kills while Herman collected 15 kills. Ross finished with 11 kills, while
Emily Sullivan (Cincinnati, Ohio) pitched in 10. Megan Carlson amassed a
team-high 17 digs, while Dhoore contributed 13. Marcum recorded a
double-double, tallying 12 digs in addition to her 19 kills. Fleming
finished the contest with 54 assists.
Marcum led the way again, totaling 10 kills for the Herd, while Herman and
Layne Kehl (Mountain Top, Pa.) registered six kills apiece. Fleming dished
out 15 helpers while Taylor Tanner (Union, Ky.) notched 12 assists.
Memphis enters Friday's match with a 10-4 overall record (1-0, C-USA) and
has won six of its last seven matches including its league opener against
UAB. The Tigers were led by last week's C-USA Co-Defensive Player of the
Week, Christine Bach, who registered 92 digs in four matches (24, 20, 25,
23 respectively).
Rebekah Strickland's 51 kills helped pace the Tigers to a 3-1 weekend
which included wins over UAB (3-1), FIU (3-2) and Chattanooga (3-0). The
lone blemish was a 3-1 loss at the hands of Samford. Memphis setter Laura
Cote handed out 167 of her 548 total assists during the four-match span.
UAB comes to Huntington on a three-match winning streak and is 9-3 overall
(0-1, C-USA). The Blazers have won nine of their last 10 matches after
starting the 2008 campaign 0-2. Ivana Bozic leads the UAB charge with 141
total kills while Casey Dent follows that with 122. Dent tallied a
team-high 16 kills in a 3-1 decision over FIU.
Blazers setter Nevena Stefanov handed out 32 assists in UAB's 3-0 sweep of
Alabama A&M, and 30 in a 3-0 sweep of Troy. Stefanov has collected 443
assists so far this season.
This weekend's matches will be broadcast live on WMUL 88.1. Free
GameTracker will also be provided on HerdZone.com.
Marshall returns to action with a 7:00 p.m. contest against UCF, Friday,
Oct. 3 in Orlando, Fla. The Herd then travels to Southern Miss for a 1:00
p.m. showdown with the Golden Eagles in Hattiesburg, Miss.
