Sept. 14, 2012

Box Score | Box Score 

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Southern Miss volleyball team extended its winning streak to three matches after posting a 3-0 sweep of Robert Morris in the Chilly Filmore's Invitational Friday.

Senior Halie Ecker paced a balanced scoring attack with 16 kills followed by Lydia Bonner with 11 and Jasmine Crowell added nine. Elizabeth Rinaudo notched 13 digs while Kristen Fleming had 34 assists.

"Kristen did an outstanding job of disturbing the offense with our hitters," coach Abbey Sutherland said. "She got into a good rhythm with our hitters and it showed in our stats. Our defense also did a good job of slowing down their key hitters."

The Golden Eagles out-killed, out-hit, out-dug and out-blocked the Colonials. USM finished with 47 kills on .318 hitting percentage with 48 digs and 4.0 team blocks. Robert Morris had 35 kills on .200 hitting to go with 41 digs and 1.0 team blocks.

Southern Miss got off to a quick start in the first set running out to an 8-3 lead. The Colonials cut the Eagles' lead to just two, 13-11, but USM ran off three straight points to force RMU to take a timeout at 16-11. Robert Morris added back-to-back points off a kill and USM error before the Golden Eagles scored the next five points in pushing the lead to 21-13. The Golden Eagles took the first set 25-16.

Robert Morris opened the second set scoring seven of the first 11 points in taking a 7-4 lead. The team traded points for the next six points before USM used a Bonner kill, a Quinci Hayward and Crowell combo block and an Alex Pfefferle ace to take an 11-10 lead. The teams continued to battle before settling to an 18-18 tie. From there, Southern Miss used a 7-1 run to end the set with a 25-19 win.

The Golden Eagles kept their momentum heading into the third set in popping out to a 6-1 lead. The closest Robert Morris could get was 9-6 early as the Golden Eagles took the final set 25-17.

Lindsey Monger led Robert Morris with 12 kills while Andrea Catucci came up with 10 digs.

Southern Miss returns to action on Saturday against Northwestern State at 10 a.m. and concludes with host Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m.