Richardson’s Nine Kills Power Marshall Past Heritage in Straight Sets

Marshall rode a balanced attack and a clean night at the net to a 2-0 tournament win over Heritage on Saturday, Sept. 12, holding the Hawks to seven kills in the match while the Lions improved to 18-8 on the season.

Senior Harper Richardson set the tone from the outset. The Marshall outside hitter put down nine kills on 19 swings, hit .211 even with five attack errors, and doubled as a facilitator with eight assists. She also added seven digs and a service ace, touching the ball in nearly every phase of the match.

Richardson had plenty of help. Senior Ellie Delp was the most efficient hitter on the floor, converting five of her 12 attempts without an error for a .417 clip, and freshman Libby Huisinga chipped in three kills on seven swings (.429) with two block touches. Senior Mckenzie Davis added three kills at a .333 clip. As a team, Marshall hit .296 — 22 kills against just six errors on 54 attempts.

Sophomore Lillian Ross anchored the middle of the Marshall offense and defense alike, distributing eight assists while posting nine digs and a team-high three total blocks. Junior Ali Sheets matched Ross with nine digs in the back row, and senior Lauren English was the Lions’ most productive server, scoring nine points on 11 attempts with an ace while playing a single set.

Heritage struggled to find offensive rhythm against that block. The Hawks managed seven kills on 58 attempts with 12 errors, finishing at minus-.086 as a team. Sophomore Piper Fields and senior Breanna Ploense led the way with two kills apiece, with Fields taking a team-high 14 swings. Ploense ran the Heritage offense, handling 49 balls without a ball-handling error and dishing six assists.

The bright spots for Heritage came in the back row. Senior Addison Hopper was everywhere defensively, piling up 13 digs — 6.5 per set — while passing 12 serve receptions without a single error. Junior Clair Davison handled a team-high 13 receptions and added five digs, and Fields contributed eight digs to go with her two kills.

Service pressure proved to be another gap. Heritage served three aces but gave away six errors on 29 attempts, including three in four tries from senior Brooklyn Powell. Marshall put four aces across the net and kept the ball in play often enough to control the serve-and-pass battle, with Hopper, Ploense and Fields each accounting for one ace for the Hawks.

Marshall never let Heritage settle in for an extended run, closing out the sweep behind Richardson’s firepower on the pin and a block that produced seven total stops against a Hawks team that recorded none.

Game Summary

Score by Sets

Individual set scores were not included in the available match data.

Match Totals

HERITAGE: 7 kills, 58 attempts, 12 errors, -.086 hitting; 7 assists; 3 aces, 6 service errors; 29 digs; 0 total blocks

MARSHALL: 22 kills, 54 attempts, 6 errors, .296 hitting; 18 assists; 4 aces, 9 service errors; 32 digs; 7 total blocks

Individual Statistics

KILLS: Marshall — Harper Richardson (Sr) 9; Ellie Delp (Sr) 5; Mckenzie Davis (Sr) 3; Libby Huisinga (Fr) 3; Lillian Ross (So) 2. Heritage — Breanna Ploense (Sr) 2; Piper Fields (So) 2; Reaghan Stierwalt (Jr) 1; Kalyn Miller (Jr) 1; Addison Hopper (Sr) 1.

HITTING PERCENTAGE (min. 5 attempts): Marshall — Delp .417 (5-0-12); Davis .333 (3-0-9); Huisinga .429 (3-0-7); Richardson .211 (9-5-19); Ross .167 (2-1-6). Heritage — Miller .250 (1-0-4); Fields .071 (2-1-14); Ploense .000 (2-2-12).

ASSISTS: Marshall — Richardson 8; Ross 8; Delp 1; Sheets 1. Heritage — Ploense 6; Clair Davison (Jr) 1.

SERVING (Aces-Errors-Attempts): Marshall — Nya Engledow (Sr) 1-2-8 (5 pts); Lauren English (Sr) 1-1-11 (9 pts); Richardson 1-1-6 (3 pts); Ross 1-1-6 (2 pts); Ali Sheets (Jr) 0-0-12 (8 pts); Huisinga 0-2-4 (2 pts); Davis 0-2-3 (1 pt). Heritage — Hopper 1-0-4; Ploense 1-2-7; Fields 1-1-5; Davison 0-0-4; Peyton Curry Varner (Jr) 0-0-5; Brooklyn Powell (Sr) 0-3-4.

DIGS: Marshall — Sheets 9; Ross 9; Richardson 7; Davis 4; Engledow 1; English 1; Huisinga 1. Heritage — Hopper 13; Fields 8; Davison 5; Curry Varner 2; Stierwalt 1.

BLOCKS (Solo-Assist-Total): Marshall — Ross 1-2-3; Huisinga 1-1-2; Delp 1-0-1; Davis 0-1-1. Heritage — none (Fields 1 block error).

SERVE RECEIVING (Receptions-Errors): Marshall — Sheets 6-0; Engledow 3-1; Richardson 3-0; Davis 3-0; Delp 1-0; English 1-0; Ross 1-0; Huisinga 1-0. Heritage — Davison 13-2; Hopper 12-0; Fields 11-1; Curry Varner 3-0; Stierwalt 2-0.