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SPORTS
MU volleyball ready for C-USA tourney
HUNTINGTON -- If Marshall is to win the Conference USA volleyball championship, they are going to have to quiet the crowd right out of the gate.
The Thundering Herd, seeded No. 5, takes on No. 4 Rice -- the tournament host -- tonight at 6 p.m. at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas.
"We just need to play like we know we can play. We're as healthy as we've been," Marshall coach Mitch Jacobs said. "Last Saturday was the first match we've put our full strength lineup on the floor in quite a while. We like our chances, we just have to battle."
Rice swept the Herd in Houston earlier this year, but Jacobs said that was a different Marshall team at the time.
When Marshall made its Texas road trip, several members of the team were out with a flubug that decimated the entire second half of the season.
The Herd's win over East Carolina in the regular-season finale marked the first time since the loss at Tulsa that Marshall was at full strength.
"It all started at the Tulsa match," Jacobs said. "That's when our adversity started with the flu and the other things. We still came out of conference with a 10-6 record, so I am really proud of our girls."
The Tulsa match came just after the midway point of the season, and Marshall had a 15-2 record at the time. Following that match, Marshall had nine of its final 13 matches on the road without its full complement of players -- which was only 11 at the start of the year.
The Herd still persevered through the difficult times to finish with a No. 5 seed after going 7-6 down the stretch.
Now, Jacobs wonders what the future holds.
He hopes it is a Conference USA title and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
"We don't know what to judge, really," Jacobs said. "Are we going to look like a team that's rusty because we have everyone back for the first time in a long time or are we going to look like the team before the Tulsa match? If we can regain the mojo we had, we can make a run here.
"I'm really proud of what we were able to accomplish this year, no doubt, but we have to get past Rice and then think about the next match. Our biggest vision is for us to get these seniors to the NCAAs. "
