Miami Edges North Dakota State in Thriller, 3-2

Sept. 5, 2009

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Greeley, Colo. – Lane Carico provided 19 kills while Ali Becker added 11 to help the University of Miami volleyball team edge North Dakota State, 3-2, Saturday afternoon in the Hampton Inn & Suites Tournament at the Butler-Hancock Pavilion in Greeley, Colorado. Miami took the match on scores of 25-18, 22-25, 20-25, 25-10 and 15-6.

Trailing in the match, 2-1, heading into the fourth set, Miami (4-1) hit 58 percent as a team in back-to-back sets to help lift the Hurricanes to the championship match set for the evening session of the Hampton Inn & Suites Tournament hosted by the University of Northern Colorado.

In the fourth set, Miami jumped up 4-0 right from the start after a kill from junior setter Katie Gallagher and blocks from Lane Carico and Lici McGee.

A kill from Nrithya Sundararaman kick-started a 10-2 run that vaulted Miami to a 19-7 advantage as Maria Andersson helped serve Miami on four points. A service ace from freshman Lizzie Hale ended the set, giving UM the win, 25-10.

Miami hit 58 percent as a team (20-2-31) while Carico collected five kills and senior libero Cassie Loessberg posted 10 digs. McGee and Genny Mayhew each added four kills in the set.

North Dakota State (3-2) was held to just a .167 clip (7-2-30) in the set.

The fifth and deciding set stood tied 3-3 when Carico and Becker punched back-to-back kills to push UM in front, 5-3. Becker provided another kill and Sundararaman another to advance the Hurricanes lead to 7-3 over the Bison.

Lizzie Hale served for the `Canes as UM started yet another big run–this time a 5-0 string started by Sundararaman. She finished the match with eight kills.

Miami would close-out the set on an error from the Bison, one of four as a team in the set–while countering with just four kills. NDSU hit .000 percent (0-0-21), while the `Canes countered with a .588 clip (10-0-17). UM took the final set, 15-6.

NDSU was led by a trio of players in double-figures for kills, including Chrissy Knuth (14) and Lauren McLaughlin (13). Brooke VandenBergh added 10 kills. Setter Jennifer Lopez collected a double-double with 19 assists and 20 digs.

As for Miami, Carico led all players with a match-high 19 kills, while Becker added 11 of her own. Carico collected a double-double, the first of the year for the Manhattan Beach, California native, with a season-high 22 digs.

Katie Gallagher had her first double-double of the year with 50 assists and 15 digs. Loessberg had a match-high 39 digs for the Hurricanes, and Mayhew had nine kills with 16 digs to fall just short of a double-double effort.

As a team, the Miami defense, led by Loessberg, recorded a school-record 113 digs. It surpassed the previous-high of 109, set against UT-Arlington back in 2007.

Miami now faces host University of Northern Colorado at 9 p.m. (EST) tonight for the championship. Live stats will be available for the Northern Colorado match by visiting www.uncbears.com.

For more information on the University of Miami Volleyball team, please log on to www.hurricanesports.com. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, stats and information regarding the Hurricanes Volleyball program.