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Marquette Defeats Miami (Fla.), 3-2, in Home Opener
August 31, 2007
MILWAUKEE - In five, hard fought games the Marquette volleyball team defeated Miami (Fla.), 3-2 (30-26, 26-30, 30-23, 24-30, 15-11) in their 2007 home opener at The Al McGuire Center in their first match of the Marquette Kick-Off tournament. "I am very pleased with the team overall and their cooperation," head coach Pati Rolf said. "We were more developed offensively." Senior outside hitter Kim Todd and senior setter Katie Weidner each posted their second-consecutive double-doubles of the season. Todd slammed a season-high 27 kills and collected 10 digs, while Weidner dished out a match-high 50 assists and posted 11 digs. Todd was also strong defending the net, as she came up with nine blocks. "Katie Weidner set a great game for us. There was a huge difference this weekend from last weekend," Rolf said. Junior outside hitter Ashlee Fisher notched 10 kills and seven blocks, while senior middle blocker Jenn Brown stopped a season-high ten blocks. "Fisher had a huge game and made a big difference at the end," Rolf said. "The team played together and were great defensively. They were positive throughout the whole night." Junior libero Terri Angst tallied a career-high 19 digs, while junior Jessica Kieser and sophomore Hailey Viola notched 11 each for the Golden Eagles. Leading the Hurricanes was Ciara Michel who slammed 13 kills. Cassie Loessberg collected 24 digs and Katie Gallagher dished out 28 assists.
Marquette got off to a slow start in game one, falling behind 10-7, but slowly fought their way back going on an 11-8 run. A kill by Todd gave the Golden Eagles their first lead with the score at 19-18. Miami pushed back and regained a 21-19 lead, but blocks by Weidner and Todd out MU ahead 25-24 and they would never trail again. Weidner hit the game-winning kill as Marquette won game one, 30-26. Todd notched a game-high six kills and tallied a .385 hitting percentage. Both teams stayed close in the second stanza and were tied 8-8 before Miami ran off on a 6-3 run. MU came back on an 8-4 run to force a Miami timeout, but faltered coming out of the break when the Hurricanes went on a 9-1 run to push the score to 27-20 in their favor. The Golden Eagles dropped game two 30-26. Game three was tightly run as both teams stayed equally matched early on, but with a 23-19 lead the Golden Eagles were able to go on a 7-3 run to earn a game three victory, 30-23. Marquette faltered early in the fourth set, falling behind 11-15. They watched as the Hurricanes went on a 6-2 run. Though they came within four points, MU would not regain a lead as the dropped the fourth game, 24-30. In the fifth and deciding stanza, Kieser served her way to a 4-0 lead over Miami. The Hurricanes rallied back to tie the game at 5-5, but MU would not trail, and Viola earned the final point for the Golden Eagles as the won, 15-11. Marquette will be back in action as they host Oakland at 12:30 p.m and face Texas-Arlington at 7 p.m., Saturday Sept. 1. |
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