Sept. 11, 2009

Box Score

Box Score

MILWAUKEE- The Marquette women's volleyball team capped its first day at the Panther Invitational by defeating South Dakota, 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 26-16). The Golden Eagles are now 8-1 on the season, their best record since starting the 1997 campaign 10-1.

"Any time you have to play two matches in a day, its hard to stay focused, its hard to keep your energy high for both matches," head coach Bond Shymansky said. "We feel very fortunate that we won that first match because it gave us a lot of confidence going into the South Dakota match. That confidence was evident with how Leslie Bielski competed and Kelsey Mattai, Carol Henney. Our back-row passing is really maturing so it was a good day one for us."

Junior Leslie Bielski notched 13 kills and 10 digs for her third double-double of the season. Nikki Klingsporn continued to impress with 40 kills on the day, giving her 102 in the two matches Friday.

The Golden Eagles got off to a slow start in the first frame but rebounded by going on a 5-0 run to take a 10-9 lead. With the score tied 13-13, Marquette took control of the set and grabbed 12 of the remaining 19 points for a 25-19 victory. Sophomore Ciara Jones recorded four kills in the first frame while Bielski and Rabbecka Gonyo each had three. Klingsporn also had 13 assists and four digs in the frame.

Marquette shot out of the gate early in the second, forcing South Dakota into both of its timeouts before the Coyotes reached four points on the scoreboard. USD rallied to add some points at the end of the frame but the outcome of the set was never in doubt. Bielski contributed five kills for the Golden Eagles, while freshman Danielle Carlson had four. As a team in the second, MU hit .462 (15-3-26).

After a good set hitting the ball in the second, the Golden Eagles came out even hotter in the third frame, hitting .464 (16-3-28) as a team. Bielski had another five kills and Klingsporn had 13 more assists.

The Golden Eagles return to action Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Klotsche Center against Wisconsin-Milwaukee in its final match of the Panther Invitational.