Marquette Volleyball Falls to Syracuse, 3-2

Oct. 18, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- The Marquette women's volleyball team dropped a tough five-set match, 3-2 (25-16, 25-21, 16-25, 21-25, 15-12), to Syracuse on Saturday afternoon, falling to 7-11 (2-4 BIG EAST) on the season.

"We have to continue to gain more experience," said head coach Pati Rolf. "The team, because they are young, doesn't always bring the same intensity that they need to and we have a tendency to see what is going on and pick up our game accordingly. You can't spot a team two games and then expect to win."

Marquette got off to a sluggish start, pushing their streak of sets without a win to 11 after dropping the match's first two sets. Following the break, Marquette came out and claimed the next two sets to tie the match at 2-2 before Syracuse won the final set to close out the match.

Senior Ashlee Fisher topped her previous season-high with 23 kills, while junior Caryn Mastandrea provided 50 assists, making it her third match this season with at least 50 assists. Freshman Amy Deelo led the way with 19 digs and Terri Angst had 14.

The first frame saw the Golden Eagles struggle to connect on their attacks, leading to an attack percentage of -.100, with 11 errors on 30 attacks. A kill from freshman Tiara Russell opened the scoring in the first set but MU would fall behind 2-1 on a service ace from Brittany Kern and not lead again, dropping the first set, 25-16.

Fisher hammered home a kill in the second set to get MU off to a 1-0 lead before the Orange went up 2-1. Marquette responded to tie the score at 10-10, forcing Syracuse into a timeout and would eventually take a 14-13 lead on a Syracuse attack error. From there, Syracuse rallied to build a 22-17 lead and took the set 25-21.

Out of the intermission, Marquette turned up the tempo, getting out to a 3-1 lead on two kills from Gonyo and one from Fisher. With the set tied at 12-12, MU ripped off three points to take a 15-12 lead, forcing a Syracuse timeout. From there the Golden Eagles scored five of the next seven points to put MU up 20-14, a lead they would not relinquish to win the set, 25-16.

In the third, Leslie Bielski and Fisher led MU with five kills each and Mastandrea provided 14 assists.

The fourth saw MU shoot out to a 4-0 lead on two kills from Gonyo, one from Mastandrea and one from Fisher before Syracuse answered to tie the set at 7-7. After a MU timeout with Syracuse leading 14-10, Marquette came back to tie the set at 16-16 on a kill from Fisher. After the two teams traded the lead, MU pulled ahead 20-19 and would take the set 25-21.

In the fourth stanza, Fisher chipped in eight kills while Mastandrea contributed 14 assists.

In the final frame, the first few points were highly contested before Syracuse scored five straight to put the Orange up 9-4 and win the set by a score of 15-12.

Prior to the match, the team held a clinic for children K-8, which included individualized instruction and a pizza party. MU will hold one more clinic on Nov. 16, prior to the game with Pittsburgh.

Marquette returns to action on Monday at the Al McGuire Center when the Golden Eagles welcome the UW-Milwaukee Panthers at 7 p.m. The match will be televised locally on Time Warner Cable Sports, Channel 32 and broadcast online by Marquette Radio (WMUR). Live stats will be available on GoMarquette.com.