Volleyball Set to Host Marquette Kick-Off Tournament

Aug. 31, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette University volleyball team hosts the Marquette Kick-Off, Sept. 1-3, at the Al McGuire Center in its first home matches of the 2006 season. Ole Miss (3-1), Illinois (3-0), and Loyola (Ill.) (2-2) invade Milwaukee in the second annual event, which MU won last season with a 3-1 record. The Golden Eagles begin play against the Rebels at 7 p.m. on Friday night, before matches with the Illini at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Ramblers at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

After a rough start, in which the Golden Eagles went 1-2 in their opening weekend at the Duke Invitational, head coach Pati Rolf is excited to be back home at The Al.

"It's nice to have Ole Miss, Illinois and Loyola (Ill.), all from different conferences, coming to The Al," said Rolf. "We are looking forward to playing at home in front of our fans. Each school will bring something different, which is going to be good because we will have to keep up with those different styles. I think for us, each of them is going to be challenging because we've got some young players and we are going to try and gain more experience for those younger players and play a lot of different players."

Two of those younger players looking to gain more experience are freshmen Leslie Bielski and Hailey Viola. Each had an impressive start to their careers in Marquette uniforms at the Duke Invitational.

Bielski connected for nine kills in MU's first game of the season, a 3-1 (25-30, 30-28, 17-30, 21-30) loss at Duke, before racking-up eight more in a 3-1 loss (23-30, 30-20, 32-34, 26-30) to Virginia Commonwealth, and 11 in a 3-1 (30-21, 26-30, 34-32, 30-21) victory over Gardner-Webb. She averaged 2.33 K/G over the weekend.

Viola was dangerous from the back line, serving one ace against VCU and three more against Gardner-Webb. She ranks 10th in the BIG EAST with 0.50 SA/G.

Three veterans, senior Jamie Mueller, and juniors Kimberley Todd and Monica Renfrow, also registered productive weekends in Durham, N.C.

Mueller averaged 6.00 D/G (leads BIG EAST) and 4.00 K/G (eighth in BIG EAST) with a 24.8 hitting percentage en route to being named to the all-tournament team. She also recorded double-doubles in each match, including a 21-kill, 20-dig outburst against Gardner-Webb.

Todd registered two double-doubles (16 K and 15 D vs. Duke, 24 K and 12 D vs. Gardner-Webb) over the weekend, averaging 4.92 K/G (second in BIG EAST) and 1.25 B/G.

Renfrow tallied back-to-back double-doubles against VCU (25 A, 17 D) and Gardner-Webb (37 A, 12 D), the first and second of her career, while ranking second on the squad with 3.08 D/G.

This weekend, everyone will have to be ready and focused as each team brings with it a different style of play.

"Ole Miss is a very big and strong team," explained Rolf. "They have a couple big guns."

Two of them are junior Katie Kramer and senior Kristen Carroll. Kramer leads the Rebels with 4.73 K/G, while Carrol ranks second with 3.52 K/G. Carroll also leads the squad with a 29.0 hitting percentage.

Also playing an important role for Ole Miss is sophomore Rachel Kieckhaefer. She leads the team with 12.73 A/G and 3.40 D/G.

The Rebels, with their only loss of the season coming against BIG EAST opponent Pittsburgh, 3-1 (25-30, 21-30, 30-28, 27-30), have won all three previous meetings with the Golden Eagles. The last Ole Miss victory came Sept. 4, 1993 at the Wolfpack, Invitational in Reno, Nev., 3-2 (13-15, 12-15, 15-6, 15-7, 15-9).

Illinois is next on the slate for Marquette. This will mark the first meeting between the teams.

"Illinois is a very balanced team, big and strong," said Rolf. "It is a Big Ten team, which is one of the strongest conferences in the country."

The Illini are led by Vicki Brown, who was crowned State Farm Illini Classic Tournament MVP last weekend after averaging 4.50 K/G and 0.90 B/G with a 41.9 hitting percentage. Kayani Turner ranks second on the team with 4.40 K/G and Ashley Edinger is averaging a team-best 3.40 D/G. All three were named to the all-tournament team.

MU plays Loyola in the final match of the Marquette Kick-Off. Senior Courtney Ashley leads the Ramblers with 3.46 K/G and ranks second with 3.54 D/G. Senior Sarah Elmer is tops on the squad with 10.69 A/G, and senior Ann Deelo leads the team with 4.85 D/G.

"Loyola is scrappy and fast, normally smaller, but has very good volleyball players," Rolf said.

Loyola leads the all-time series between the teams, 7-14, including a 3-0 (31-29, 30-27, 30-26) defeat of Marquette in the pair's last meeting, Sept. 16, 2004.

"We have to follow our game plan this weekend," added Rolf. "We need to be consistent with every ball, play every ball, and to side-out quickly when they have the ball. It's a process, we are learning to be focused every moment."

Ole Miss and Illinois begin the tournament with a match starting at 11 a.m. on Friday at The Al.