Photo by Jake Przytarski The Marshall girls volleyball team poses with their trophy after winning the Big South Conference championship by defeating St. Peter 3-0 on Tuesday. It’s the fifth consecutive Big South title for the Tigers and 33rd overall as a program.

MARSHALL – With a Big South Championship trophy hanging in the balance, the Marshall Tigers put together a dominant straight-sets victory over the St. Peter Saints to capture their fifth consecutive title and remain the only team in the conference’s five-year history to have won a conference championship in volleyball. Head Coach Dan Westby attributes the sustained success of his teams to the hard work of his players.

“We’ve been real fortunate,” said Westby. “We’ve had kids who have been willing to put in the time and work hard. We’ve been in this match five years in a row and I don’t think we’ve lost a set. (It’s) so tough to maintain, but we’re glad to have another one.”

Slow to get rolling but nearly unstoppable the rest of the way through, the Tigers took some time to find their rhythm in the early goings of the first set with both team’s battling to establish momentum. In response, Westby made some defensive adjustments that would prove highly effective midway through the first set and into the remaining two sets.

“I thought we made some adjustments defensively and our kids adjusted well to those things,” said Westby. “I think that gave them some problems, and (I) thought we picked some balls up and converted those into points. So that was a good start for us in set one and I thought we maintained that throughout the match.”

After being tied at 6-6, the Tigers used the adjustments to their advantage and began to hit their stride, highlighted by a nine-point run that would help them cruise to a comfortable 25-14 win to take a 1-0 lead.

Continuing to fire on all cylinders, the Tigers did not let up in the second set and kept the Saints on their heels with a strong tempo in spite of their opponent making it difficult at times to do so.

“It was tough at times,” said Westby. “This team we played tonight sets the ball a little bit higher so that has a tendency to slow things down a little bit, but I thought overall we were able to push the pace and keep it at the fast pace that we try to play.”

Holding a nine-point cushion late with a 19-10 lead, the Tigers pressed on and took the second set 25-15.

Needing only one more set win to hoist the trophy, the Tigers put together what may have been their best performance of the three – combining the up-tempo pace with stout defense and great serving that included back to back aces by Jordyn Hilgemann – to finish the match with a dominant 25-13 set victory and earn the match win.

In total, Hilgemann would finish with a game-high four serving aces to go along with four blocks. Logan Sherman and Bria Morris each paced the team in kills with eight each, and Mia Schnaible led the way in digs with six on the night.

The Tigers will close out the regular season on Thursday when they travel to Tracy to take on the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers looking to improve to 22-6 before the start of sections. Westby is looking to finish the regular season on a high note against an ever-dangerous Panthers squad.

“We’ve got a big match on Thursday,” said Westby. “We go to Tracy (and) that’ll be a tough match. (It) always is down there, and then we’ve got a week to get ready for sections.”