Marquette Volleyball Takes on Rutgers, Villanova
10/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2006
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MILWAUKEE - Playing with an overall record of .500 (11-11, 6-3) for the first time this season, the Marquette volleyball team travels to Piscataway, N.J., to take on Rutgers (5-14, 2-7), Friday at 7 p.m. ET, before making its way to Villanova, Pa., to play against the Wildcats (12-12, 5-4), Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. With a victory over the Scarlet Knights, the Golden Eagles can run their consecutive-wins streak to three matches, the team's longest of the season. With five matches remaining in the BIG EAST regular season, MU is in a tie for fifth-place in the conference standings with Pittsburgh.
Marquette has won three of its last four matches overall, and four of its last five matches on the road. The enthusiasm of freshman Katie Vancura, along with a team-leading nine blocks in the last two matches, is a big reason for the Golden Eagles recent success.
"Katie has been out for a while, working really hard in the training room getting herself back," said head coach Pati Rolf. "She is starting to get better and we are going to give her more opportunities in games. There is something about her in games that brings a little extra flair and enthusiasm, and we are looking for that with this team."
The Golden Eagles are 8-4 in its last 12 matches after starting the season 3-7. Rolf feels things are starting to come together at the right time, but her focus is on maintaining consistent play through the remainder of the regular season.
"It took time to get to where we are now. We've work on being consistent and are getting closer to where we want to be. Both Rutgers and Villanova are good possibilities for us and we are just going to work hard and be disciplined and hopefully continue to generate some ways to put ourselves in a good position in the conference."
Junior Monica Renfrow is the centerpiece to generating the Marquette offense. The setter was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll, Oct. 23, for her play against Pittsburgh, Oct. 20, and West Virginia, Oct. 22. Renfrow tallied her second triple-double (10 K, 51 A, 14 D) of the season in a 3-2 (30-25, 25-30, 30-14, 23-30, 13-15) loss to the Panthers, and then came one kill short of a second-straight triple-double (9 K, 43 A, 12 D) in a 3-0 (30-28, 30-14, 30-22) defeat of the Mountaineers.
Taking a great deal of the sets from Renfrow are senior Jamie Mueller, junior Kimberley Todd and freshman Leslie Bielski. Mueller ranks ninth in the BIG EAST with 3.93 K/G and also fourth with 4.82 D/G. Todd is second in the conference with 4.66 K/G, and Bielski is averaging 2.17 K/G and ranks in a tie for second on the squad with 1.00 B/G.
Leading Rutgers and ranking fourth in the BIG EAST with 4.21 K/G is senior Laura Yankauskas. The outside hitter is also second on the team with 3.34 D/G, just behind freshman Brittani Rendina, who is averaging 3.51 D/G. Sophomore Kyra Thompson is second for the Scarlet Knights with 3.86 K/G. Leading the team in assists is sophomore Roxy Calder (6.64 A/G), and in blocks is junior Mallory McEnroe (0.80 B/G).
"Rutgers has a new coach, and even with watching film, it is tough to know what to expect from them," said Rolf. "They have some good passing, great defense, so we are really going to have to play disciplined ball, run our middles and stay spread out, and we will have to see how they respond to it."
The Golden Eagles lead the all-time series, 3-1, after sweeping the Scarlet Knights, 3-0, last season at The Al, behind a 17-kill, 14-dig performance by Todd.
Up next for Marquette is Villanova. The Wildcats have three main targets offensively. Sophomore Alona Cherkez leads the team and ranks eighth in the BIG EAST with 4.02 K/G, and also leads the team with 2.81 D/G. A second threat is junior Kacy Sellers, who, with 2.90 K/G, ranks seventh in the league with a 34.2 hitting percentage. Second on the team with 3.26 K/G is senior Adrian Semrau. She also leads the squad with 0.98 B/G. Setting up the hitters is a combination of senior Jenna Link (8.07 A/G) and freshman Chelsea Graman (7.41 A/G).
"Villanova is a strong team with a couple of very big players and a nice middle," Rolf explained. "They have a good setter so our job will be to shut down the middle and force them to go outside. We are going to run our middles fast and get everyone up to hold their blockers down and then serve tough. We have really worked hard on serving consistently and putting teams out of their rhythms."
In the inaugural meeting between the teams last season, the Golden Eagles outlasted the Wildcats, 3-2, in Milwaukee, behind a 22-kill outing by Todd.
Rolf stressed the importance of playing the next five matches as good as any have been played all season, and knows exactly what the team has to do to be successful.
"We need to be consistent, aggressively consistent, and bring a lot of enthusiasm."
