Nov. 14, 2008

Box Score in PDF Format

MILWAUKEE --The Marquette women's volleyball team tallied a win against conference foe West Virginia, 3-0, on Friday evening at the Al McGuire Center.

"The team really worked hard and they were pretty focused," said interim head coach Erica Heisser. "The middle hitters played especially well tonight. Tia really worked hard and Caryn did a good job of getting everybody a good amount of balls."

In her first game as interim head coach following Pati Rolf's resignation on Wednesday, Erica Heisser led the team to a win in just three games, the first 3-0 victory for the Golden Eagles since play against Rutgers on Sept. 26.

The match pitted Heisser's squad against of the most experienced coaches in NCAA Division I play, with Mountaineers coach Veronica Hammersmith currently in her 34th season.

In their 100th game of the season, Marquette (11-15, 5-8 BIG EAST) relinquished an early lead, but came back to win 25-22. After WVU (7-20, 0-13 BIG EAST) took a 2-0 lead, the Golden Eagles tied the game at 2-2. West Virginia never gave up their lead until an Abby Raines attack error allowed MU to jump ahead, 17-16. A 6-2 Marquette rally established a 22-17 MU lead, capitalized two forced attack errors and a Rabbecka Gonyo kill. After trading points, the Mountaineers responded to a Tiara Russell kill to tally three straight points, 23-22. MU scored the next two points to secure the game win, with a Ciara Jones point, and Russell's game point kill for a 25-22 MU decision.

Junior setter Caryn Mastandrea tallied 10 assists in the frame, and freshman libero Amy Deelo added seven digs. The Mountaineers never recorded a block, solo or assisted, in the first game loss, while Marquette tallied six.

Marquette continued their momentum into the second game, with a huge Ashlee Fisher kill tying the score at 1-1. After West Virginia took a 5-4 lead, a Russell kill tied the score at 6-6, and the Golden Eagles would never again trail. The second round battle saw six different Golden Eagles tally a kill, led by Fisher with six. MU outscored the Mountaineers 15-9 after taking a 10-8 lead, highlighted by back-to-back Fisher kills and a service ace by Terri Angst to take a 17-13 lead. After a 19-15 lead, the Golden Eagles would score five of the next seven points, with a Bielski kill, Mastandrea kill, Bielski service ace, Gonyo kill, and forced attack error. With the set point on the line, WVU stopped MU's initial rally, but a Ciara Jones kill off a Mastandrea assist ended the game at 25-17.

In the third and final game, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead off of WVU errors from four Angst serves. Three consecutive Marquette points, including a Fisher kill, helped the home team to a 7-2 advantage. Two Mountaineer attacks by Abby Norman allowed WVU to close the gap at 9-4. Marquette then went on a scoring spree to record their eleventh win of the season, and first under Heisser. A Russell kill and Amy Deelo service ace allowed MU a 13-5 lead, and two Gonyo and Jones kills saw a 23-13 advantage. MU was then outscored 8-2 before tallying the set point off a West Virginia out of bounds call, ending the game at 25-20.

Marquette held the Mountaineers to just three overall team blocks, including just one solo. Junior Raines led West Virginia with 10 kills off 38 attacks. Freshman Kari Post tallied 18 sets, while redshirt sophomore and Racine-native Nicole Jones added 13. WVU was limited to a .117 attack percentage.

Fisher totaled 11 kills on the night, with Jones and Mastandrea following with eight and seven, respectively. Mastandrea had 30 of the team's 37 assists of the game. The Golden Eagles finished with a .208 attack percentage.

The Golden Eagles will host Pittsburgh in their last home match of the season on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. with a pregame ceremony honoring seniors Terri Angst, Ashlee Fisher and Jessica Keiser.

Marquette Golden Eagles Women's Volleyball

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