Marquette University
Florida (Florida Disney Classic)
Record Set as Volleyball Falls to No. 7 Florida, 3-0
11/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 24, 2006
ORLANDO, FLA. - Kimberley Todd set a Marquette record with her 521st kill of the season, but it was not enough as the volleyball team fell to No. 7 Florida, 3-0 (24-30,26-30, 28-30), Friday afternoon at the Champions Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., at the Gators Conference Challenge. Todd finished with 18 kills in the match and now has 531 this season. The Golden Eagles (16-14) will meet No. T-15 LSU (25-5), tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET, in their season finale.
"I think today was some of the best defense we have played all season," said head coach Pati Rolf. "Florida was probably the biggest and most powerful team we have seen all season. We needed to step up our offense a little more today and our blocking. I am looking forward to playing LSU tomorrow."
MU started off with a 5-2 lead in game one with a kill by junior Jenn Brown, but Florida scored six of the next points to tie the frame at 8-8. A 4-0 run by the Gators gave them a 19-12 lead. The Golden Eagles would make a run at the first game, getting to within four as late as 28-24 on a kill by Todd, but Florida scored the final two points to win, 30-28.
The second frame was much closer as Marquette took a late 21-19 lead on a kill by Todd. Florida answered, however, with a 7-1 run to go up 26-22. A kill by senior Jamie Mueller cut the Golden Eagles' deficit to two at 28-26, but they would get no closer as the Gators scored the final two points in the game, winning 30-26.
Florida once against jumped out to a big lead in the third stanza, going ahead 15-9. An ace by Mueller cut the lead in half, 16-13, and then down 19-16, a 6-0 run by the Golden Eagles gave them the lead 22-19. Marquette increased its lead to four at 26-22, but errors late proved costly as Florida rallied to win game three, 30-28.
With 56 attempts in the match, Todd also set the single-season attacks record, now at 1,291. Mueller tallied her team-leading 24th double-double (11 K, 10 D) of the season, and junior Monica Renfrow added a game-high 44 assists. Freshman Leslie Bielski added nine kills on 20 attempts with one error for a 40.0 hitting percentage.
The Golden Eagles fell to 1-21 all-time against ranked teams and lost back-to-back matches for the first time in over two months since being defeated by Virginia, Sept. 9, and San Francisco, Sept. 15.
