Oct. 23, 2008

Match Notes in PDF Format

MILWAUKEE -- Following a win over cross-town foe UW-Milwaukee, the Marquette volleyball returns to action Friday evening when they host the Louisville Cardinals at 7 p.m. at the Al McGuire Center. MUTV will broadcast the match live on GoMarquette.com, while Marquette Radio (WMUR) call the game as well.

"We have some very powerful outside hitters on the team and our middles are really starting to come around," said head coach Pati Rolf. "We are going to go back to some of the basics. In the St. John's and UW-Milwaukee game where we have done well, we focused on serving, passing and blocking. We have a great opportunity this weekend to put ourselves in a better position in the BIG EAST."

Following a rough road trip, which saw them lose to both USF and Georgetown, the Golden Eagles returned to Milwaukee last weekend looking to get a few wins during a four game home-stand. Although they dropped last Saturday's match against Syracuse, MU rebounded and came back from a 2-0 deficit in the match against UWM on Monday to win, 3-2.

Over the last two games, senior Ashlee Fisher led the team with 39 kills while Leslie Bielski had consecutive 17-kill matches to set a career-high. On the defensive side, freshman Amy Deelo has continued to improve, recording 43 combined digs in the last two matches, while Rabbecka Gonyo has excelled at the net, posting a career-high 18 kills against UWM to go along with seven blocks. Caryn Mastandrea has paced the offense with 97 assists in the last two matches and registered a career-high 20 digs against UWM.

"We are trying to get the whole team off to a quicker start to matches," said Rolf. "I think our two outside hitters are critical to how we are playing. We are built around defense, blocking and passing and when we really did that well we obviously had more successful results."

Louisville (8-10, 4-3 BIG EAST) enters play this weekend tied for sixth in the BIG EAST Conference after dropping a 3-1 decision Saturday at Cincinnati. The Cardinals finished as BIG EAST Tournament Runners-up a year ago at the Al McGuire Center and boast the BIG EAST's top blocking front line. Lecia Brown is tops in the conference in blocks with an average of 1.75 per set over seven conference matches and leads a front line that averages 2.85 over the entire season and 3.32 in BIG EAST play.

"Louisville has some big blockers," Rolf said. "Louisville has been struggling with their passing as they have a freshman setter. We are going to try to take advantage of some of the youth on their roster."

Cincinnati (18-5, 5-2 BIG EAST) is currently tied for fourth in the BIG EAST with Notre Dame and will head to Milwaukee after playing at Syracuse on Friday. Bearcats' outside hitter Missy Harpenau was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the week Oct. 20 for the second straight week after a 12 kill, 17 dig performance in their win over Louisville.

"The Cincinnati game will be very difficult," Rolf said. "They have a lot of experience and it will be interesting to see how they come in following a their game with Syracuse on Friday."