Dec. 17, 2010

Head coach Bond Shymansky's second year at Marquette turned out to be a historic one for the Marquette University women's volleyball team.

Although it fell short of its ultimate goal of a 2010 BIG EAST Championship and a berth in its first NCAA Championship, the accomplishments of the surging program can not be overlooked.

The Golden Eagles set school records for wins (23), BIG EAST Conference victories (11) and longest winning streak (14). They also reached the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship for the second time and had three players named First Team All-BIG EAST, American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Northeast Region and Honorable Mention All-American.

The Golden Eagles came within one victory of a share of the BIG EAST Regular Season Championship, after a thrilling come-from-behind, five-set victory on Nov. 12 over Louisville at the Al McGuire Center. MU's fourth victory over the Cardinals and first since 2001 put the regular season title in the balance when Marquette welcomed No. 19 Cincinnati on Nov. 14. The Golden Eagles ended the BIG EAST regular season with a loss to the Bearcats and earned a No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, the highest in program history and the first appearance since 2006.

"My favorite moment of the season was the comeback win against Louisville," Shymansky said. "It's when our backs were to the wall, we're in our home building, and we really had to dig deep. That moment of wanting to play for the championship is right there on the line. If we don't win that match then the Cincinnati match doesn't have the same caliber or clout to it. What a fantastic testament of willpower, teamwork and intensity. I felt like it was the first time the Al had really come alive for our team the whole season. That's the kind of electricity that we want to be able to tap into in the future."

After a 3-0 sweep of Pittsburgh in the BIG EAST Quarterfinals, Marquette met Louisville in the semifinals for the second time. The Golden Eagles took the first set and jumped out to a lead in the second before the Cardinals fought back to take sets 2-4 and claimed their third-consecutive conference tournament championship.

Marquette returned home following the BIG EAST Championship for one final match on Nov. 27 against Northern Illinois and downed the Huskies in four sets. NIU entered the match with an Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of 52, slightly ahead of MU's 55, which helped the Golden Eagles leap to 48 in the season's final standings.

The Golden Eagles turned their attention to "Selection Sunday" (Nov. 28) for the announcement of the NCAA Volleyball Championship field, but fell just short of an at-large bid in the 64-team tournament. The lowest team selected by the committee had an RPI of 46, while MU sat on the outside at 48.

"There's some tough lumps in there and there are some tough days for us," Shymansky explained. "It's tough not to make the NCAA Tournament, and to have the BIG EAST regular season title decided in our own building and just not be able to pull it out. But to think about how far we've come in such a short period of time to even have those moments as opportunities and we recognize that a lot of programs in the BIG EAST aren't there. So we're going to keep working and make sure we stay ahead of the curve as best we can."

The season began in late August at the Golden Gopher Invite when the squad swept Stony Brook on Aug. 27 and Denver on Aug. 28 before falling to No. 6 Minnesota in the tournament title match. Seniors Rabbecka Gonyo and Nikki Klingsporn each were named to the all-tournament team, while Klingsporn earned her first BIG EAST Honor Roll selection of the season on Aug. 30.

Labor Day weekend saw the Golden Eagles make the trek to California to take on UC Irvine (Sept. 3) and No. 3 Stanford (Sept. 4) before a Sunday afternoon showdown at perennial NCAA tournament participant St. Mary's (Calif.) on Sept. 5. MU opened play at the Stanford Invitational with a sweep of UCI before giving the Cardinal a scare in its own building. Stanford took the first set before MU stormed back for a 25-17 second set victory to knot the match at the break. The Golden Eagles sat behind by a single point, 18-17, in the third frame before the Cardinal took the last two sets and the match. Marquette also fell behind the Gaels, 2-1, before taking the fourth set to force a fifth set, which SMC pulled out 15-12.

Klingsporn made a repeat appearance on the BIG EAST Honor Roll on Sept. 6 after she and Gonyo again claimed all-tournament honors at Stanford.

The Golden Eagles dropped their first home match of the season to Creighton in the Marquette/Milwaukee Invitational on Sept. 10 before responding to sweep Milwaukee and down Toledo in four.

Back on the road at the Wildcat Classic, MU opened with sweeps of Harvard (Sept. 17) and Charlotte (Sept. 18) and fell to Northwestern in four sets, which included two extra-point losses (28-26 in the second and 27-25 in the fourth).

Beyer was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll on Sept. 20 after earning all-tournament honors at Northwestern along with Gonyo's fourth all-tournament selection of the season.

The Golden Eagles opened BIG EAST Conference play the following weekend at USF and Georgetown, but were without the services of Beyer, who suffered a shoulder injury against the Wildcats. MU was swept by USF in Tampa before a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Hoyas.

Upon Beyer's return to the lineup on Oct. 1 at Villanova, Marquette ripped off a school record 14 straight victories, which included 11 conference contests, including five-set thrillers at Notre Dame and Seton Hall.

Marquette lost a total of 10 sets during that streak, which spanned from Oct. 1-Nov. 12. In that time, Beyer was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll twice, as was Gonyo and junior outside hitter Ciara Jones. Beyer also earned BIG EAST Player of the Week honors on Oct. 25 after the victory over Notre Dame, marking the first time since 2006 that a MU player had earned the honor.

MU started the season 7-7 before the trip to Philadelphia and played 17 of its first 22 contests on the road.

Beyer, Klingsporn and Gonyo were each named First Team All-BIG EAST and also earned AVCA All-Northeast Region and Honorable Mention All-American recognition.

Klingsporn ended her MU career fourth in school history with 2,626 career assists, including 1,391 in 2010. Her average of 12.10 assists per set in 2010 ranked fourth in the nation and helped the Golden Eagles rank 11th nationally in hitting percentage (.288) and 28th in kills (14.12 per set).

Gonyo ended 2010 ranked third in the NCAA in hitting percentage (.429) with 325 kills on 590 total attacks with only 72 errors. That mark is the best single-season percentage in MU history. She also ended her MU career first in hitting percentage (.303) and block assists (364), while ranking in the top ten in kills (10th, 977) and total blocks (second, 431).

"I wrote (Gonyo and Klingsporn) letters to close out their careers on senior day and I read them to the team," Shymansky recalled. "The best way I could sum it up is that however many years down the road it goes, they'll always be able to come back here and say, 'I was here when it started. We were the foundational building blocks for the success of the program.' That's just something that is really special in my mind. I know they didn't get the championship that they wanted, but that within and of itself is a huge shift. It's a paradigm shift in our program. The program never had the audacity to set those goals. We now have the full expectations for us to be champions, so I am really proud of them for that."

Beyer and Jones, who notched 414 and 379 kills, respectively, both served as beneficiaries of many Klingsporn assists in 2010. Beyer's total was the ninth-best single season total in school history, while Jones' mark surpassed her total from the previous two years combined. Jones was also selected All-Midwest Region by COBRA Magazine.

Shymansky also got increased contributions as the year progressed from a freshmen back row that included Julie Jeziorowski, Rachel Stier and Catherine Mayer. Jeziorowski started 26 matches at libero, including the last 18 of the season, and notched 408 digs, the eighth-best single season total at MU and the second-best freshman mark in school history.

"I think what we recognize in the building process of our program is that it's gone from pretty good last year, and from pretty good to really good this year. Now we have to make that next step forward, which is to great," Shymansky said. "It's amazing how little room there is for error in getting from really good to great. We need to be good enough, tough enough and smart enough to make that final step, but we're excited about the direction of our program and all the fantastic returning players that we'll have in our lineup next year. We're really at the point where we're onward and upward."