Nov. 18, 2006

Box Score

CINCINNATI - Despite the 31-kill effort by junior Kimberley Todd, the No. 6 seeded Marquette volleyball team fell to No. 2 seeded Louisville, 3-2 (24-30, 33-31, 26-30, 30-25,10-15), in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament, Saturday afternoon, at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.

"We had some people put up big hitting numbers today," said head coach Pati Rolf. "The last two days have been the best performance I have seen out of a Marquette team. I know the seniors are disappointed because they feel like they were that close. Louisville has been here before. They stepped up many times and kept balls in play. This match was one of our best performances of the year."

Todd gave Marquette a 5-2 lead early in game one with a kill from the left side. After taking a four-point lead at 8-4 on a kill by junior Jenn Brown, Louisville rallied to tie the game at 13-13, and then took a two-point lead, going ahead 16-14. The Golden Eagles rallied to tie the game at 18-18, but the Cardinals answered, going up by four at 25-21 and 26-22, prompting a timeout by MU. Marquette was unable to rally out of the break as Louisville won game on, 30-24.

Todd connected for six kills on 10 attempts without an error in the frame, leading the Golden Eagles to a 33.3 hitting percentage.

The second game featured a tight battle from beginning to end as the teams played to within two points of each other throughout. With Louisville up 26-24, Marquette rallied to tie the game at 28-28 on a kill by freshman Leslie Bielski. A kill by Todd on the next point gave MU the lead, and a chance to put away the game, but UofL scored twice, and ahead 30-29, had a chance to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Senior Nicole Wallace, from the left side, tied the game at 30-30 with a kill on the next point, before Todd gave Marquette the lead once again at 31-30, with a slam. Louisville retied the game at 31-31, the 20th tie of the frame, but the Golden Eagles scored the next two points, with the final coming on a kill by Todd, to tie the match, 1-1.

Louisville scored five of the first seven points in the third stanza, but was quickly answered thanks to a 3-0 run by Marquette that tied the score at 5-5. The Golden Eagles built on their momentum, taking a four-point lead at 14-10, on back-to-back kills by Wallace. The Cardinals used a timeout at that point, but MU did not break, increasing its lead to five at 18-13 on an error by UofL, prompting their second timeout. At that point, Louisville went on an 8-3 run to tie the score at 21-21. After a Golden Eagle timeout, the Cardinals took a two-point lead at 26-24 before going on to win, 30-26.

With three kills in the first 11 points of game four, Todd helped Marquette to a 7-4 lead. Louisville rallied to go ahead 10-9 thanks to a 4-0 run, before going up 12-10. The Golden Eagles called a timeout and out of the break went ahead 13-12 on an ace by Mueller, and then 18-15 on a kill by senior Jamie Mueller. Down 20-16, Louisville stormed back to cut its deficit to one at 20-19, but a kill by Wallace increased MU's lead back to three, 22-19. After a Cardinals timeout, the Golden Eagles increased their lead to five at 25-20, and after a late rally by UofL, blocks by Mueller and Brown gave MU the game-four victory, 30-25, and tied the match, 2-2.

Marquette out hit Louisville 40.9-27.5 percent in the frame behind nine kills by Todd and eight by Mueller.

Down 4-1 to start the deciding game, the Golden Eagles rallied to tie the frame at 5-5 on Todd's 31st kill of the match. The Cardinals scored the next three points to regain a three-point advantage at 8-5, but Marquette answered with three consecutive to tie the game at 8-8 on blocks by Brown and Mueller. Down 11-9, MU called a timeout, but was unable to rally as UofL went on to win the game, 15-10, and the match 3-2.

Renfrow tallied a career-best 74 assists and added 10 digs for Marquette. Mueller also registered a double-double with 20 kills and 14 digs. Todd (39.3), Bielski (34.8) and Wallace (40.7) each tallied hitting percentages above the team's 28.9 percent. Senior Lauren Pierce recorded a career-high 27 digs.

Tatyana Kolesnikova led Louisville with 22 kills.

Up next for the Golden Eagles is a trip to Orlando, Fla., where they will face No. 7 Florida, Nov. 24 at 4 p.m. ET, and No. 11 LSU, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. ET, in the Florida Disney Classic.