Golden Eagles Drop First Match Saturday To Iowa, 3-1

Aug. 29, 2009

CHICAGO- The Marquette volleyball team lost its first match of the day at the Loyola Invitational Saturday morning, 3-1, to the University of Iowa (25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 25-15).

Juniors Leslie Bielski and Nikki Klingsporn each led MU with double-doubles, recording 17 kills and 10 digs and 35 assists and 10 digs, respectively.

The first set was a highly contested one, as the two squads fought for the upper hand throughout the round. Both teams held two point advantages until the set was tied at 16-16, when Marquette jumped out to a 19-16 lead to hold the largest lead of the set. The Hawkeyes then fought back to take a 23-22 lead before a kill by Bielski tied the frame at 23. From there, Iowa took the next two points to close out the first stanza.

The duo of Bielski and Klingsporn were Marquette's main source of offense in the opening set as nine of Klingsporn's 13 assists came on Bielski's kills.

Marquette burst out to a 4-1 lead in the second set on three kills from Bielski and led until the Hawkeyes knotted the score at 22 late in the match. With the score tied at 23-23, freshman middle hitters Danielle Carlson and Carol Henney added kills to end the frame at 25-23 for a Marquette victory. Klingsporn added 14 assists in the second set.

In the third set, Marquette jumped out to another early lead at 9-5 before faltering down the stretch. MU held its last lead of the set at 15-14 on a Bielski kill and called a timeout trailing 19-17. After that, MU managed to grab only one more point in the stanza, ultimately falling 25-18.

The Golden Eagles struggled out of the gate in the fourth frame, falling down 5-1 and never regained their composure, dropping the frame 25-15.