Dukes Overwhelm Thundering Herd, 3-0

Friday, October 11

Huntington, W.Va.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

7-8,2-3Sun Belt

Marshall

9-9,0-5Sun Belt

James Madison

Marshall

10/11/2024 8:22:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – James Madison hit a season-high .405 as the Dukes swept Marshall 25-18, 25-13, 25-23, on Friday evening at the Cam Henderson Center in Sun Belt Conference volleyball action.

JMU (7-8, 2-3 Sun Belt) hit a season-best .405 and held Marshall (9-9, 0-5) to .171. The Dukes finished with a season-low six attacking errors.

Brenya Reid led all players with 19 kills on .372 hitting and added five digs, while freshman setter Jordan Smart registered the first double-double of her career, finishing with 40 assists and 11 digs.

Senior middle Annie Smith hit an efficient .385, finishing with 12 kills on 26 swings with only two errors. Olivia Vance picked up nine kills at .533 hitting, and libero Jaydyn Clemmer led the Dukes with 15 digs and now has 1,251 in her career, pushing her past Katie Daorai (2010-13) for the fourth-most digs in program history.

Audrey Geer paced Marshall with 15 kills, while setter Brynn Brown tallied 18 assists and 12 digs. The Thundering Herd recorded zero blocks and finished with 16 attacking errors.

How It Happened
First Set: James Madison 25-18

Reid led all Dukes with seven kills in the first set.
JMU hit an efficient .333 and held Marshall to .140.
After both teams traded points at the beginning of the set, four straight points for JMU gave the Dukes an 11-7 lead.
A kill from Reid gave JMU a nine-point advantage (19-10), its biggest of the set.
Marshall trimmed the Dukes' lead to 20-14, but JMU put away the Thundering Herd, aided by two more kills from Reid.

Second Set: James Madison 25-13

The set was tied at 9-9 before the Dukes ended the game on a 16-4 run.
After a Julia McNeley service error trimmed JMU's lead to 11-10, an extended 11-1 run gave the Dukes a 22-11 advantage.
Two terminations from Smith and one from Reid helped JMU take a commanding 2-0 set lead in the match.

Third Set: James Madison 25-23

The score was 9-8 before four straight from the Dukes cushioned the visitor's lead to 13-8.
The Thundering Herd scored five in a row to trim their deficit to 18-16, but the Dukes responded with two straight to push their lead back to 20-16.
Marshall fought back and tied the score at 22-22, capped off by two kills from Brown.
Geer evened the score at 23-23, but a kill from Reid and a Thundering Herd attacking error gave the Dukes the set and match.

Match Notes

James Madison has now won six consecutive matches against Marshall and is 13-5 all-time against the Thundering Herd, its last loss coming Aug. 31, 1996.
Reid's 19 kills mark the fourth straight match the junior has reached double-digit kills. In her last four matches, Reid has tallied 79 kills (4.64 per set).
JMU's .405 hitting percentage is the first time the Dukes have hit .400 or higher since hitting .449 against Robert Morris on Aug. 27, 2022.

Up Next
JMU and Marshall will close their two-match set tomorrow at 2 p.m. inside the Cam Henderson Center. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.