Sept. 4, 2008

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's volleyball team travels to Cedar Falls, Iowa this weekend to take part in three matches at the UNI Invitational. The Golden Eagles will open play against reigning ACC Champion Clemson on Friday at 5 p.m., before taking on host Northern Iowa at 12:30 p.m. and Northern Illinois at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

"The team looks good, they are training hard," said head coach Pati Rolf. "The new lineup is working well. Everyone is embracing it and we are excited to get back on the court."

The Golden Eagles return to action after posting a 1-2 record in their first weekend of play in the Marquette Kick-off Tournament at the Al McGuire Center. In the season's first match, Marquette lost an error-filled game to Houston, 3-1. The second match saw MU demolish Chattanooga, 3-0, before falling to Tennessee, 3-1, in the tournament finale.

Senior outside hitter Ashlee Fisher leads Marquette into action averaging 4.0 kills per game. Fisher had a season-high 18 kills against Chattanooga, which she hammered home on 28 attacks without a single error. Freshman Amy Deelo anchors the Golden Eagles backline, after she was called into duty as the team's libero last weekend.

"I thought the improvement of the freshman over this past weekend was really amazing," Rolf said. "Amy Deelo is doing well with a lot of maturity. Laira Akin is maturing improving physically from her injury during the spring. Tia [Russell] was put in a tough spot with the injury to Holly [Mertens] but has handled it well. Sammie [Hertaus] and Alex [Coello] are working really hard as well."

The Clemson Tigers return four starters and their libero from a squad that went 29-4 (12-1 ACC) a year ago and are off to a 2-1 start so far this season. Northern Iowa is 3-0 on the season and has yet to lose a set this season. Northern Illinois is 2-2, with one of the losses coming against BIG EAST member Connecticut in 3-0 fashion.