MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois volleyball earned its first Summit League victory of 2012 Monday evening (Sept. 17) at Oakland, 3-2. The win marks the first for the Fighting Leathernecks at Oakland since November 10, 2007.
The Golden Grizzlies (8-5, 1-1) were up 2-1 after three sets of action, but the Leathernecks (6-7, 1-2) were able to take sets four and five by scores of 25-17 and 15-5 to earn the match victory in come-from-behind fashion.
"After coming out flat in the first set, which is something you can't do when you're playing a great team like
Oakland at their place, we knew we needed to battle and improve throughout the rest of the match in order to be successful," said head coach April Hall.
"We found our way both offensively and defensively through standout performances from several players including Samantha Fournier, Ann Miller, Katie Hosteng, Bridget Murphy and Sarah Fetter. Collectively we made it happen and achieved the goals we set forth prior to the match."
Samantha Fournier and Ann Miller paced Western offensively, compiling 19 and 17 kills, respectively. Heather Smith (8 kills) and Katie Hosteng (7 kills) also helped the Leathernecks' attack.
Miller's 17 kills is the most for the sophomore since Western's season-opener against Montana State when she tallied 17.
Besides setting up her teammates all evening by dishing out a match-high 45 assists, Sarah Fetter also put down six kills, tying her single-game career-high. She had six kills last season against SIU-Edwardsville (Aug. 26).
Bridget Murphy led the Leathernecks in digs with 26, while also dealing out eight assists and acing a team-best two serves.
Also helping out in the back row was Fournier who had career-high 19 digs and Fetter who finished with 12.
Hosteng and Fournier led Western in protecting the net defensively, each finishing with a career-high in total blocks. Hosteng finished with nine, while Fournier had seven.
As a team, the Leathernecks had 13 total team blocks. The 13 blocks marks the second time Western has tallied 10-plus blocks this season (12 vs. South Dakota), and the most since September 30th of last year when they had 15 at Kansas City.
The Leathernecks will look to carry its momentum into Friday's (Sept. 21) match at North Dakota State. Western and NDSU are scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m. in Fargo.
