The Marshall volleyball team earned back-to-back sweeps Sunday and Monday against the Florida Atlantic Owls, winning both its matches 3-0.

The Herd improved its record to 8-4 overall and 6-4 in Conference USA. The Owls on the other hand fall to 1-10 with a 1-9 C-USA record.

With Marshall winning three out of its last four, junior middle back Macy McElhaney said that she credits the game two loss against Middle Tennessee State for giving the team a jolt of energy.

“After splitting with MTSU and coming off the loss the second day, we came into practice and we worked on getting out of ruts and holes that we dig ourselves into,” McElhaney said. “This weekend showed the bounceback that we have and the ability we have to do that.”

Not only did the Herd get a couple of much needed wins; a milestone was reached for one of its players.

Redshirt senior and outside hitter Ciara DeBell moved into ninth place in program history for career kills in game one with a total of 998. She picked up a game high 14 kills in game two giving her 1,012 career kills for the Herd and 1,098 for her collegiate career.

DeBell and two other teammates, junior Sarah Schank and senior Sydney Lostumo, earned Conference USA Player of the Week honors.

Lostumo also sparked things up in the two games series with an eye-popping 30 assists in game one and 40 in game two. She also scored 5.5 and 8.5 points in the two games while recording six service aces in game two.

Schank led the team with 31 total digs, an average of 5.17 per set, and she was also a perfect 18-for-18 in receptions.

Marshall head coach Ari Aganus said that the girls play as a team and play the right way.

“When I see (the team) make little milestones, that’s so much more important than the sweeps,” Aganus said. “For them, to get those kinds of accolades and kind of get (the feeling of) doing it the right way, it’s really rewarding.”

The Herd will close out the regular season with a trip to Norfolk, Va., taking on the ODU Monarchs for a two-game series. The games will take place on Sunday and Monday at 1 p.m.

Aganus said that the team is ready for the next challenge.

“Everything that we worked on in practice this week, paid off this weekend,” Aganus said. “(It) just means that whatever we focus on this week in order to get prepped for (Old Dominion) my expectation is that they will respond well and be able to execute which is really awesome.”

Noah Hickman can be contacted at [email protected]