LIVONIA, Mich. -- The No. 5 ranked Crusaders volleyball team kicked off the 7^th Annual Julie Martin Memorial Tournament with a 3-0 (30-11, 30-19, 30-16) sweep of Rio Grande on Friday afternoon at the Activities Center.

Senior middle hitter Caryn Inman (Oxford, MI/Oxford HS) led the attack with 16 kills in 20 total attempts while sophomore Lubovj Tihomirova (Riga, Latvia/Riga Gymnasia) recorded 14 kills.  Freshman setter Inta Grinvalds (Portage, MI/Portage Central HS) posted 31 assists in 35 attempts and junior Jacqui Gatt (Livonia, MI/Churchill HS) recorded a team high 13 digs in the win.

MU set the tone early in the first game, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead, capped off by a service ace from Gatt.  Madonna would force the Redwomen to take a time out with the lead stretched to 14-4.  Following the time out, Madonna went on a 9-5 run and held a 23-9 advantage following a kill by Inman.  Tihomirova would provide a huge kill for Madonna to give the Crusaders a 29-10 lead before Heather Spooner’s spike found the middle of the Rio Grande defense, giving the Crusaders the win a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second game, the Redwomen forced the Crusaders into an early timeout after holding a 6-4 advantage.  Madonna would regain the lead (8-7) after a Spooner kill.  The Crusaders would stretch the lead to seven (20-13) before Rio Grande stopped the Crusaders run with a timeout.  Madonna would go on to win the second game 30-19 after taking 10 of the final 16 points.

The Crusaders would again establish their dominance in the final game of the contest jumping to a 10-4 lead after a kill from Whitney Fuelling (Highland MI/Western Michigan).  Gatt led the Crusaders to three straight points capped off by her own service ace.  Madonna again would win 10 out of the last 16 points to clinch the victory.

Madonna improves to 9-1 following the win and will return to action tonight in a 7:30 p.m. (ET) contest versus Cedarville University.