Oct. 3, 2008

St. John's-Marquette Box Score

MILWAUKEE -- The Marquette University women's volleyball team defeated reigning BIG EAST Conference Champion St. John's at the Al McGuire Center Friday night, 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 26-24, 25-21).

"St. John's is one of the top teams in the conference and our team really played well tonight," said head coach Pati Rolf. "This weekend is critical for us to establish ourselves against the top teams in the BIG EAST and we really took an important step in doing that."

Leading the way for the Golden Eagles was junior setter Caryn Mastandrea, who along with a career-high 19 digs, provided 39 assists and seven kills on a .467 attack percentage. Leslie Bielski chipped in 14 kills, while Ashlee Fisher added 12 for MU. Defensively, the Marquette blockers had career-nights, as Katie Vancura had a career-high seven blocks and freshman Tiara Russell's nine blocks are the most of her young career. Rabbecka Gonyo also provided five blocks, including three solos.

Marquette shot out to a fast start in the first set, registering the frame's first five points to put MU up 5-0 after a kill by Fisher. After a St. John's timeout, the Red Storm rallied back to eventually tie the set at 17-17 on a service ace by Casie Brooks, forcing MU into a timeout. Marquette came out of the timeout with a kill by Gonyo to put MU up 18-17. After the score was tied once again at 18-18, Marquette pulled away to take the set, 25-21.

In the first, Bielski and Vancura both had five kills, while Gonyo provided three. The three of them registered only one error in the frame, with their 13 kills coming on only 15 attacks. Mastandrea added 16 assists in the stanza, helping the team to an attack percentage of .615.

The second set saw Marquette once again jump out to an early lead, taking a 3-1 advantage on an attack error by Valeria Kovaleva. St. John's responded with a kill from Darlene Ramdin and two kills from Casie Brooks to take a 4-3 lead. Following that juncture, Marquette would not lead again as St. John's took the set, 25-17.

Both squads struggled to make consistent contact in the second set as St. John's led the way with an attack percentage of .222, followed by MU's seven kills and seven errors.

Following the break, Marquette got off to a very slow start, falling behind 3-0 before a kill by Vancura put MU on the board. The Red Storm dominated early in the set, building up a 19-8 lead before the Golden Eagles mounted their largest comeback of the season. Marquette started to chip away at the lead with three straight points, forcing St. John's to call a timeout with the score 19-11. Out of the timeout, Marquette responded by taking five of the next six points, including two consecutive kills by Bielski, which put MU within four at 20-16. After another St. John's timeout, both teams battled as the Red Storm eventually sat at set-point, up 24-20. Marquette then tore off six straight points to take the set 26-24 with three kills from Fisher.

In the third, Fisher and Russell both provided four kills with only one error between them.

Another slow start caused Marquette to call a timeout early in the fourth stanza after an attack error by Amy Deelo put St. John's up 6-2. After the lead had extended to 16-10, Marquette used their second timeout to take control of the set and consequently, the match. Out of the timeout, Marquettte took 11 of the next 14 points to take a lead at 21-19. From that point, two kills by Mastandrea and one by Fisher closed out the set and the match, 25-21.

For the Red Storm (11-7, 2-1 BIG EAST), preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Wioleta Leszczynska led the team with 42 assists, while Casie Brooks added 16 kills.

The Golden Eagles (7-7, 2-0) return to action Sunday at 2 p.m., against Connecticut (10-6, 1-2) at the Al McGuire Center.