Marquette University
University of New Hampshire
Golden Eagles Rally to Defeat New Hampshire, 3-1
2/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2005
MILWAUKEE - The Golden Eagles made a come-from-behind effort and salvaged seven game points to defeat New Hampshire, 3-1, tonight in the finale of the Marquette Challenge at the Al McGuire Center. Marquette was named tournament champions for winning all three of its matches and senior outside hitter Theresa Coughlin was named tournament MVP for the second straight weekend.
"I am very proud of the team for the way they battle back," said head coach Pati Rolf. "New Hampshire forced us to play and earn our own points. I thought we played aggressive, especially in game four, and it was the first time this season I have seen our team rally together and earn the win. It was definitely a total team effort tonight."
The Wildcats came out strong and traded points with the Golden Eagles before Marquette mounted a seven-point run and lead 25-21 Sophomore Kim Todd made three consecutive kills and Jenn Brown earned the game point with a block of UNH's kill to lift the Golden Eagles in game one, 30-21. Todd led the way for the Golden Eagles hitting over 57 percent.
In game two, points were traded for most of the game again amongst the two teams, but Marquette squeaked by with a 32-30 win to lead the match, 2-0 heading into game three. The Golden Eagles recorded 15 kills along with a meager two percent attack percentage in the second game.
New Hampshire battled hard and fought off a Marquette comeback late in game three to force a fourth game winning, 30-28. Emmy Boulin and Erin Walker combined for seven of the Wildcats 10 kills in game three. Walker also contributed 1.5 blocks to help New Hampshire's cause. The Golden Eagles made a valiant effort late in the game fending off four game points before losing game three.
The Wildcats led from the beginning in game four, even leading by as many as nine points midway through the game before Marquette staged its comeback. The Golden Eagles capitalized on New Hampshire's errors, while Kim Todd, Brown and Coughlin combined for six kills to win game four, 31-29. Marquette didn't back down as it dodged seven game points in the win. Coughlin led the way as she contributed nine of the Golden Eagles 19 kills in the fourth, hitting over 61 percent.
Coughlin ended the game with her sixth consecutive match tallying double-digit kills with 20, while Jamie Mueller added 15 and Todd 11. Walker and Boulin led the way for New Hampshire registering 16 kills and 17 points, respectively.
Joining Coughlin on the all-tournament team was fellow Golden Eagle Kim Todd, Iowa's Melanie Meister and Stacy Vitali, IUPI's Devika Bellamy and Erin Walker from New Hampshire. This was Todd's second all-tournament honor this season as she was named to the Holiday Inn Milwaukee City Centre Volleyball Kick-off tournament team last weekend.
The Golden Eagles will get a "Rocky Mountain high" as they travel to Boulder next weekend for the Colorado Invitational hosted by the University of Colorado. At CU, Marquette will take on defending NCAA Champion Stanford in the first match on Friday, September 9 at 5 p.m. MT. Saturday, Sept. 10, the Golden Eagles will face host Colorado at 2 p.m. MT and round out the weekend against Creighton on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 11:30 a.m. MT.
