Marquette Volleyball Travels to Villanova and Seton Hall

Nov. 7, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- The Marquette women's volleyball team returns to action this Saturday when they play at Villanova at 1 p.m., and take on Seton Hall on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"I think it will be a tough weekend," said head coach Pati Rolf. "Both Seton Hall and Villanova are looking to try to get into the tournament and these are critical games for them. We are getting stronger and hopefully we can give them some problems."

The Golden Eagles played 10 sets last weekend, losing to DePaul, 3-2, before rallying from a 2-1 deficit against Notre Dame on Sunday for a 3-2 victory.

For her play against the Fighting Irish, junior setter Caryn Mastandrea, earned BIG EAST Honor Roll accolades for the third time this season. Against Notre Dame, Mastandrea recorded a career-high tying 52 assists and a career-high seven blocks to go along with eight kills and eight digs.

Also setting career highs were middle blocker Rabbecka Gonyo with nine blocks, Ciara Jones with 13 kills and six blocks and Tiara Russell with nine blocks. As a team, the Golden Eagles recorded a season-high 21.0 blocks against the Irish.

"Spreading the offense out and relying on more people really showed itself against Notre Dame because we had great hitting numbers," said Rolf. "Becka, Tia and Ciara have really been working hard in practice and it is showing."

Currently Marquette sits 12th in the BIG EAST at 3-7 and wins this weekend would greatly improve their chances of making the BIG EAST Tournament by getting into the conference's top eight. Villanova and Seton Hall are directly above the Golden Eagles, sitting in 10th and 11th place, respectively, with both squads at 4-6.

"It would be fun going into the last weekend of the year with a chance to play in the BIG EAST Tournament," said Rolf.

Villanova has lost two straight matches while Seton Hall has lost three straight heading into their match up with Syracuse on Saturday.