JMU VOLLEYBALL EARNS WEEKEND SPLIT, TOPS NORTHEASTERN 3-1

Sunday, October 1

Boston, Mass.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

10-6, 5-3CAA

Northeastern

7-8,4-3CAA

James Madison

Northeastern

JMU VOLLEYBALL EARNS WEEKEND SPLIT, TOPS NORTHEASTERN 3-1

10/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

BOSTON, Mass., Oct. 1, 2006 - Junior Allyson Halls (Columbus, Ohio/Olentangy) and senior Hanna Porterfield (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) combined for 38 kills and a .392 attack percentage in leading James Madison University to a 3-1 win over Northeastern University on Sunday in Colonial Athletic Association action.

JMU (10-6, 5-3 CAA) defeated NU (7-8, 4-3 CAA) by game scores of 30-18, 33-35, 30-26, and 30-26. JMU earned a split of its weekend roadtrip after Friday's 3-1 loss at Hofstra. The Dukes also won their sixth match in their last seven contests and won their first road match of the season to improve to 1-4 in away matches.

In game one, JMU led 9-7 when Jena Pierson (San Antonio, Texas/James Madison) took serve. By the time she was finished, the Dukes led 15-7. The Huskies got no closer than seven the rest of the way as JMU ran away with a 30-18 win.

The Dukes kept the momentum going in game two, jumping out to an early lead and going up by as much as seven at 19-12. However, NU started to make its push, pulling within 20-17 and then tying the score at 24-24. The teams battled through eight ties from that point forward before Pierson recorded a service error and Northeastern's Kira Batura put the game away with a kill.

In the third game, the Dukes pulled away from a 21-21 tie with four straight points with freshman Kaitlin McFaddin (Natural Bridge Station, Va./Rockbridge) at serve. Halls had three kills in the rally. JMU went on to win 30-26.

JMU trailed 14-13 in game four when senior Ashley Copenhaver (Hedgesville, W.Va./Hedgesville) put down a kill and proceeded to serve four straight points as JMU took a lead it would not relinquish. Northeastern was as close as 28-26 when sophomore Lauren Miles (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Prep) and Porterfield posted back-to-back kills to end it at 30-26.

Halls had 20 kills and hit .400 (20-4-40) and also had four blocks. Porterfield hit .385 (18-3-39). McFaddin added a career-best 14 kills. Miles posted a double-double with 58 assists, 10 digs, and four blocks. Pierson collected 27 digs and Copenhaver added seven kills and 13 digs. JMU hit .306 as a team in the match.

Northeastern was led by the pair of Kira Batura and Lauren DeTurk, who each had double-doubles. Batura posted 17 kills and 16 digs while DeTurk had 17 kills and 14 digs. Whitney Turner had 12 kills while Brittany Eukovich turned in 11 kills on .381 hitting. Ivana Pavlisin and Jessica Tkachuk tallied 33 and 24 assists respectively. Leah Neubeck added 16 digs.

JMU returns to action on Friday at conference rival George Mason University at 7 p.m.