Marquette Falls in Five Games to Belmont

Sept. 14, 2007

MILWAUKEE-- In a five-game extended battle, the Marquette volleyball team fell, 3-2 (27-30, 30-24, 27-30, 30-22, 16-18), to Belmont in the opening match of the DoubleTree Marquette Challenge on Friday.

Senior Jenn Brown had an outstanding night on the court as she led Marquette (2-6) with a .536 hitting percentage on 16 kills and put up 10 total blocks for her first double-double of the season. Senior Kim Todd also hit a double-double as she notched 21 kills and collected 15 digs. Senior setter Katie Weidner dished out a season-high 56 assists, while junior Ashlee Fisher slammed 19 kills. Junior Terri Angst collected 22 digs with junior Jessica Kieser and sophomore Hailey Viola posting 17 digs apiece.

"I thought this was probably the best effort that I have seen from this team since Miami," head coach Pati Rolf said. "We learned some things that we need to do, but I think this is a point that we can go off of what we've learned. Ultimately we saw some great play out of some of our major players, more than I have seen before, like Fisher and Brown, so we just need to work on eliminating errors at key times."

Belmont (9-4) was led by Cat Mundy, who led all scorers with 24 kills. Emaily Cahill slammed 19 and Jaye Schuler posted 18 kills. Colleen Nilson dished out 63 assists.

Marquette opened the first game sluggish, and saw Belmont take a 4-1 lead, but pushed to get the score to 8-6. The Bruins went on a 6-0 run and forced MU to take their first timeout. The Golden Eagles stormed out of the break and went on a 9-3 run to bring the score to 17-15, and held pressure on the Bruins with the score at 28-24, to force Belmont into its second timeout. Down, 29-24, the Golden Eagles surged at the end with a 3-0 run to stave off the Bruins' game point, but unable to come any closer, MU dropped game one, 27-30. Todd led Marquette with four kills.

The second stanza opened with the Golden Eagles charging to a 4-2 lead. Belmont pushed back to tie the game at seven apiece, but a block by Brown gave the Golden Eagles an 11-8 advantage. MU continued to lead as a kill by Todd pushed the score to 18-13, and forced the Bruins to use a timeout. Belmont came back on the court and used a 5-2 run to push within two points and forced Marquette into a break. The Golden Eagles stayed in control and held on as Viola served an ace to win game game two, 30-24. Todd slammed seven kills and hit a .542, while Brown stopped four balls.

The Golden Eagles were energetic in game three as they opened with a 2-1 lead on an ace by Kieser. They held onto the lead and pushed the score to 14-9 on another ace by Kieser, and forced the Bruins to use a timeout as they led 18-12. Belmont crept back into the game and owned their first lead with a 10-3 run that forced MU to take a break with the score 22-21. A kill by Todd put the Golden Eagles within a point, 26-25, and a kill by Julie Richards took the score to 28-27 in Belmont's favor. Marquette could not regain a lead and fell in game three, 30-27. Fisher smashed seven kills in the stanza and hit .333.

Blocks by Brown and Weidner, opened the fourth game with a 5-2 run by MU, and an ace by Viola pushed the score to 8-3 in the Golden Eagles' favor. Though Belmont crept back, a block by Brown kept MU's lead at 17-13. Marquette had control throughout the entire game as Todd smashed a kill for a 29-22 lead and the Golden Eagles grabbed the 30-22 victory on blocks by Brown and Rabbecka Gonyo.

The fifth and deciding game was a nail-biter with MU trailing early, 3-5. They stayed tough and a kill by Todd brought them within a point at 7-6. MU took its first lead at 10-9, and forced the Bruins into a timeout, but the teams traded point-for-point until a kill by Fisher gave MU a 12-11 lead. Brown slammed a kill to tie the score at 13 apiece and the Golden Eagles got the chance to serve for match point on an ace by Angst, but Belmont came back and forced extended play. With a 17-16 advantage, the Bruins served up an ace to win the game, 18-16 and took the match 3-2.

Despite the loss, the Golden Eagles hit .241 combined and held Belmont to just .186. Defensively, they stopped 14.5 blocks as a team.

Marquette will be back on the court at 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 15, when they host Houston Baptist in the final match of the DoubleTree Milwaukee City Center Marquette Challenge.