Golden Eagle Spikers Claim Marquette Challenge Title

Sept. 8, 2001

Milwaukee -- The Marquette volleyball team capped off a productive weekend by posting two impressive wins on Saturday, and in the process captured this year's Marquette Challenge Volleyball Championship. Saturday afternoon, the Golden Eagles defeated Chicago State in three games (30-19, 30-19, 30-23) before sweeping Central Michigan Saturday evening, 30-14, 30-24, 30-22.

In the Chicago State match, the Golden Eagles hit 33.3 percent (51-12--117) as a team and held the Cougars to 11.5 percent (29-17--104). Senior Mehgan Devine (Harris, Minn.) led the team with 13 kills and hit 41.4 percent (13-1--29) while sophomore Megan Markowski (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) came up with 10 kills along with a team-high nine digs. Aiding in the victory were 13 service aces, three apiece coming from junior Danielle Hagen (Milwaukee) and freshman Sarah Vernon (Englewood, Col.)

Marquette closed out the weekend with an impressive effort against the Chippewas of CMU, finishing with a 35.7 attack percentage (50--15--98) while limiting the visitors to 17.0 percent (31-15--94). Senior Vesna Grbavac (Palatine, Ill.) tallied team-highs in with 13 kills and 12 digs and was complemented by the play of freshman Shannon Devine (Harris, Minn.) and classmate Jennifer Amobi (Baltimore, Mary.) who finished with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Once again, MU used its serving prowess to its advantage, registering 18 aces to CMU's seven.

Marquette's three wins over the weekend, boosted its season mark to 5-2.

Mehgan Devine earned tourney MVP honors after finishing the three matches with 34 kills, a 38.7 attack percentage (34-5--75) and 19 digs. Grbavac (32 kills over the weekend) and Shannon Devine (18 kills, 8 block assists in two matches) each landed spots on the all-tournament team.

Marquette's next action takes place on Tuesday (Sept. 11) when it plays at UW-Milwaukee.

2001 MARQUETTE CHALLENGE ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Mehgan Devine (MVP) Marquette

Sharon Moreno Eastern Kentucky

Shaleen Glombowski Central Michigan

Vesna Grbavac Marquette

Emily Lovejoy Central Michigan

Shannon Devine Marquette