Marquette Volleyball Defeats Villanova, 3-2

Nov. 8, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- The Marquette University women's volleyball team won a close match at Villanova Saturday afternoon, 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-3).

"The women picked it up in the fourth set and really cranked it up in the fifth," said head coach Pati Rolf. "Overall we picked it up as a group. We were really consistent with our serving and then everything started to accelerate from there."

After trailing two sets to one, as they did last Sunday against Notre Dame, the Golden Eagles (10-14, 4-7 BIG EAST) won the last two sets to win the match.

Leading Marquette to victory were senior outside hitter Ashlee Fisher with 20 kills, junior setter Caryn Mastandrea with 43 assists and 10 digs, libero Amy Deelo with 18 digs and sophomore Rabbecka Gonyo with eight blocks.

Marquette got off to a slow start, falling behind 3-0 in the first before rallying to tie the set at 3-3 on a kill from Fisher. Villanova then went on a 4-0 run to expand the lead to 7-3 and eventually led 14-7 prior to a Golden Eagles comeback. A block from freshmen Ciara Jones and Russell retied the set at 19-19. With the set tied at 20-20, Marquette scored the next four points and eventually took the set 25-23.

In the first stanza, Russell and Gonyo each had three blocks while Fisher added five kills for the Golden Eagles.

The second began just as the first did, with the Wildcats jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead. After two Marquette points, Villanova went on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 9-2 and take command of the set. MU would cut to the lead to four points but would fall 25-20.

Out of the break Marquette had another slow start and trailed 8-4 before scoring the next four points, with two kills coming from Fisher, to tie the set at eight. With the set tied, Marquette took a 14-11 lead on a kill from Terri Angst. After Villanova tied the score at 14-14, the Wildcats shot out to take a 19-15 lead on a service ace from Emily Brown and would win the set 25-21.

After falling behind to start the first three sets, the Golden Eagles jumped early in the fourth frame, scoring the first four points and had a 6-1 advantage on a kill from Gonyo. From there Villanova went on a 9-2 run to take a 10-8 lead before Marquette struck again to lead 12-11 on a service ace from Mastandrea. With the Wildcats claiming a 17-14 lead, MU came back to tie the set at 17-17 and would lead 18-17 on a kill from Leslie Bielski. With the score tied at 20-20, Marquette used a 5-0 run on two kills from Fisher and a kill and a block from Russell.

The Golden Eagles got out to a 10-0 lead in the fifth set and eventually led 14-1 on a kill by Gonyo before a kill from Bielski closed out the scoring, 15-3. In the shortened fifth set, Bielski and Gonyo each had three kills while Gonyo and Katie Vancura each had three blocks. Marquette accrued an attack percentage of .400 in the fifth, while the Wildcats hit -.235.

Marquette returns to action Sunday at 1 p.m. when they play at Seton Hall (13-13, 5-6 BIG EAST). The Pirates sit directly above the Golden Eagles in the BIG EAST standings after defeating Syracuse, 3-0 on Saturday.