Oct. 30, 2011

GREENVILLE, N.C. - All 12 Golden Eagles saw action in posting a 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-19) sweep of East Carolina Sunday afternoon.

Ashley Mell led all players with 16 kills and Lauren Sears chipped in 10 on .444 hitting for Southern Miss (12-13, 6-7). Lisa Knecht tallied 19 digs with Amelia Hendrickson and Kelsea Seymour picking up 12 and 10 respectively. Seymour also handed out 37 assists to record a double-double.

Kelly Derby and Amanda Lutzow led the Pirates (2-20, 0-13) with eight kills apiece. Kasey Kavanaugh and Zarah Cecich recorded 13 and 12 assists, respectively, and Shelby Beasley led the team with 16 digs.

Southern Miss scored 10 of the first 13 points in taking a 10-3 lead. East Carolina fought back to within 10-5 before a kill by Sarah Jane Bowden gave the Eagles an 11-5 advantage. Southern Miss extended the lead to 22-9 then closed out the set for a 25-17 win.

The Golden Eagles opened the second stanza with a 5-1 lead before ECU called a timeout. Southern Miss got kills from five different players in extending the lead to 11-4. The Pirates did not get its offense on track as Southern Miss took the second set 25-11. USM outhit ECU .353 to -.029.

Southern Miss fell behind early in the third 10-7. After a timeout, Halie Ecker sparked a 6-0 run with a kill as the Golden Eagles went ahead 13-10. Following a Pirate timeout, Britney Roper put down a kill and combined with Derby for a block to cut the lead to 13-12. Mell then had back-to-back kills and combined with Bowden for a 16-12 lead. The teams traded points for the next five possessions before Lutzow and Whitney put up a block followed by a Lutzow kill to get the Pirates to 17-18. The squads traded kills before a Sears kill and block forced ECU to take a timeout. The Eagles then ended the set scoring the last three points for the 25-19 win.

Southern Miss is back in action at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday with a pair of matches against SMU next weekend.

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