Marquette Volleyball Falls to Louisville, 3-0

Oct. 24, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- The Marquette volleyball team was defeated Saturday night at the Al McGuire Center by Louisville, 3-0 (25-8, 25-19, 25-21).

"We did not play well," said head coach Pati Rolf. "We struggled to generate the proper offense that we needed against this team. Ciara (Jones) was really aggressive with her play tonight and Caryn (Mastandrea) did a great job getting her the ball in the third set, while our other outside hitters struggled."

In the first set, Marquette managed a season-low eight points on three kills, while the Cardinals landed 13. Previously, MU's lowest set point total was against Clemson on Sept. 5 and Oregon State on Sept. 20 when the Golden Eagles scored 10 points. In the first, Ashlee Fisher landed a kill to put MU within four at 8-4, but from there Louisville scored 12 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 20-5 lead before claiming the set, 25-8.

The second saw Marquette fall behind 5-1 before responding to tie the set at 10-10 after a kill by Rabbecka Gonyo. The Golden Eagles eventually took the 16-15 lead on a kill from Caryn Mastandrea, but Louisville came back to score 10 of 13 to take the set, 25-19.

Out of the intermission, Marquette was the first to strike on a kill from Fisher to put MU up 1-0. The Golden Eagles also led at 5-4 on a kill from Katie Vancura and at 6-5 on a kill from Ciara Jones. Louisville responded to pull out to a 15-10 advantage to force a MU timeout. Marquette would close the gap to two points at 17-15, but that would be as close as they would get, falling 25-21.

On the night, Ciara Jones posted a team-high six kills for MU, five of which came in the third frame, and Amy Deelo led the team with nine digs. For the Cardinals Justine Landi registered a triple-double with 10 kills, 18 assists and 11 digs, while BIG EAST blocks leader Lecia Brown had six blocks for the match.

Throughout the match, Marquette failed to connect on it's attacks, leading to a .000 hitting percentage for the night, while Louisville hit .304.

The Golden Eagles (8-12, 2-5 BIG EAST) return to action Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., at the Al McGuire Center when they face the Cincinnati Bearcats (18-5, 5-2 BIG EAST), winners of eight-straight matches.