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Marquette Volleyball Defeats Notre Dame, 3-2
Nov. 2, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- The Marquette University women's volleyball team pulled out a late victory at Notre Dame Sunday afternoon, beating the Fighting Irish, 3-2 (28-26, 22-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12). "It was a great win for us this afternoon," said head coach Pati Rolf. "The match was well played and we did a great job of spreading the ball around. Our ladies in the middle, Becka (Gonyo) and Tia (Russell), both played tremendous matches." For the Golden Eagles, sophomore middle blocker Rabbecka Gonyo hammered home 16 kills on 29 attacks for a .517 hitting percentage, while also recording a career-high nine blocks and four digs. Also registering career-highs in the blocks column were Tiara Russell, who tied Gonyo for the match-high with nine blocks and Caryn Mastandrea with seven. Mastandrea's numbers approached quadruple-double range as she recorded 52 assists, eight kills and eight digs to go along with her seven blocks. After a Notre Dame service ace to open the match, Marquette scored six of the next seven points to take a 6-2 lead on a kill by Gonyo. The Golden Eagles built a six point lead at 9-3 on a Notre Dame attack error. From that point, the Irish went on a 10-1 run and took a 13-10 lead, forcing Marquette to use their first timeout. With the score 20-13 in favor of Notre Dame, MU stormed back and recaptured the lead, going up 22-20 after two kills from freshman Ciara Jones, who set career-highs with 12 kills and six blocks. Kills from Ashlee Fisher and Russell closed out the first match in Marquette's favor, 28-26.
"Ciara came off the bench for us today and played with a ton of enthusiasm," said Rolf. "With the middle doing so well offensively for us it really opened up the rest of the court." Marquette got off to a slow start in the second game and was never able to recover losing 25-22 after facing deficits of 9-2 and 17-9. After the intermission, Marquette fell behind 9-5 before they responded to tie the set at 14-14, right before a media timeout on a kill from Mastandrea. Marquette took a timeout down 18-16, but after another three Irish points and another timeout, Notre Dame pulled out the third set, 25-20. Just as they did in the first stanza, the fourth saw Marquette force ND into an early timeout after building a 7-3 lead on a kill from Jones. Another kill from Jones caused Notre Dame to burn its second timeout with the Golden Eagles up 18-14. With MU sitting at set-point after a kill from Gonyo, the Irish scored three points before MU closed out the set at 25-22 on a kill from Fisher. In the fourth set, Marquette recorded 21 of their 25 points on kills. The Irish jumped out early in the final frame, leading 5-3 prior to a Marquette timeout. After the MU timeout, Marquette rebounded to tie the score at 8-8 before a Notre Dame timeout. After another Notre Dame timeout with the Golden Eagles leading 11-9, Marquette closed out the set and the match 15-12 on two straight kills from Mastandrea. In the fifth set, MU scored 11 of its 15 points on kills, with only one error for a .526 attack percentage. "After game three, our defense really exploded, never letting the ball die," said Rolf. "We grew up and took responsibility, not forcing our attacks in the last two sets really showed." The win against Notre Dame is Marquette's second straight win over the Irish after dropping the series' first nine matches. The Golden Eagles defeated Notre Dame at the Al McGuire Center last year 3-1 on Oct. 12. The Golden Eagles (9-14, 3-7 BIG EAST) return to action Sat., Nov. 8 when they travel to Villanova before facing Seton Hall on Sunday. |
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