Marquette Volleyball Upends No. 22-Ranked Louisville

Oct. 12, 2001

Milwaukee -- The Marquette volleyball team came away with the biggest win of Head Coach Laura Farina's young career Friday evening, defeating No. 22-ranked Louisville on the road in five games. The Golden Eagles boosted their overall record to 10-6 (4-2 in C-USA) following a 30-26, 28-30, 16-30, 31-29, 16-14 come-from-behind decision. The setback dropped Louisville's record to 11-3 overall, 6-2 in the league. The match was held at the Kentucky International Convention Center before a crowd of 1,345.

"I thought that tonight that we really came together and played as a team." said Farina. "People really stepped up when they had to, whether it came to putting a ball down, making a good pass or just making good decisions."

The Golden Eagles' freshman corps played a key role in the win. Jennifer Amobi (Silver Springs, Mary.) paced Marquette's attack with a season-best 23 kills and a 41.3 attack percentage (23-4--46) while rookie Shannon Devine (Harris, Minn.) came up with 16 attacks and two blocks. Seniors Mehgan Devine (Harris, Minn.) and Vesna Grbavac (Palatine, Ill.) recorded 16 and 15 attacks, respectively, with Grbavac chalking up a team-best 16 digs. Junior Danielle Hagen (Milwaukee) rounded out the MU contingent who finished with double digits in attacks with 12.

For the match, Marquette finished with a 25.2 attack percentage (83-30--210) compared to UL's mark of 23.8 percent (76-30--193). The Cardinals enjoyed a 81-59 edge in digs along with a slim 9-8 margin in blocks.

"Mentally, all week long we focused on that fact that we could win the match," Farina added. "We locked our sights on a vision and went about trying to make it happen in practice. We had good practices all week long and it carried over into tonight."

Marquette's next action takes place on Saturday evening (Oct. 13) when it plays at league-leading Cincinnati (10-5, 7-1) starting at 6:00 p.m. (CST).