Marquette Falls at West Virginia, 3-2

Oct. 28, 2007

MORGANTOWN, W.V. - The Marquette volleyball team dropped its second consecutive five-game match at West Virginia on Sunday. The Golden Eagles (8-12, 5-5) fell 3-2 (23-30, 27-30, 30-25, 30-23, 13-15) to the Mountaineers in another tough contest.

Posting her seventh consecutive, and 14th double-double of the season, senior Kimberley Todd slammed a match-high 26 kills and collected 11 digs. Sophomore Caryn Mastandrea notched her second double-double of the season, dishing out a career-high 50 assists and notching a career-best 12 digs. Senior Jenn Brown tallied 16 kills and notched a .394 hitting percentage, while sophomore Hailey?Viola collected a career-best 23 digs.

"It was two tough matches over the weekend," head coach Pati Rolf said. "With two consecutive five games it just shows that the league is getting stronger. Jenn Brown had a good performance today and Tiffany Helmbrecht is showing a lot of improvement."

The first game saw the Mountaineers pull out to an early 8-4 lead. A kill by Todd took the score to 12-7, but WVU continued to dominate game one pulling to a 25-15 lead. MU fell 30-23.

MU regrouped in the second frame, pulling ahead 4-2 following a kill from freshman Rabbecka Gonyo. West Virginia pushed back to tie the score at 10 apiece and went on a 7-2 run to increase its lead to 17-12. Mastandrea had back-to-back kills to pull the Golden Eagles within three points and served an ace to take the score to 19-18. Following a kill from Brown, MU tailed by a point, 23-22, but the Mountaineers stayed one step ahead. At 29-25 they served for game point and though a kill from Gonyo forced a second try, West Virginia took the second game, 30-27.

The Golden Eagles charged out to a 5-1 lead in the third stanza on serving from Mastandrea. West Virginia went on a 5-1 run to tie the score at six, and took its first lead of the game at 9-8. MU tied the game at 12 each and then went on a 6-1 run to pull ahead, 18-13. The Golden Eagles would not surrender the lead again earning the third game victory, 30-25.

Viola served MU to a 7-0 lead in the fourth game and forced the Mountaineers into a timeout holding a 9-1 advantage following a kill from Mastandrea. West Virginia regrouped to pull within four at 14-10, but Todd smashed a kill and then served three consecutive points forcing WVU to use its final timeout and giving the Golden Eagles a 21-15 lead. The break didn't faze MU as they pressed hard to allow Brown to serve for game point, leading 29-23, and took the 30-23 victory as Todd smashed a kill.

In the fifth and deciding stanza, the teams were tied at two points, but the Mountaineers ran on a 4-2 run for the 6-4 lead as MU called timeout. On serving from Viola, MU surged out of the break to jump ahead, 9-7 and went up 12-7 on a kill from Todd. An attack error from West Virginia pushed the Golden Eagles to a 13-8 advantage, but WVU scored seven unanswered to take the game and match, 15-13.

Abby Tevis led the Mountaineers posting 24 kills and collecting 23 digs on a .382 hitting percentage. Tammy Wolf had a .447 clip on 21 kills, while Kailee Goold dished out a match-high 66 assists.

The Golden Eagles finish their road trip with a stop at Connecticut on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 1 p.m. CT followed by a meeting with No. 23 St. John's on Sunday, Nov. 4.