MU Continues Winning Ways At Aquinas
Crusaders hit at .329 clip and post eight aces in 3-0 win

Sept 27, 2007

		Mary McGinnis (pictured) posted 15 kills, tying a three-game personal high, at Aquinas on Tuesday night.

BOX SCORE

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Using a .329 hitting percentage, eight services aces and 15 kills from sophomore Mary McGinnis, the 18^th ranked Madonna volleyball team took down Aquinas 3-0 at the AQ Field House in Grand Rapids on Tuesday night.

AQ opened the match by taking a 7-5 lead early in game one and forced MU (18-5; 6-0 WHAC) coach Jerry Abraham to call a time out. That time out seemed to change the Crusaders’ attitude as the visitors rallied to take an 11-7 lead on a vicious McGinnis kill from the left side of the net to the far line.

After the two sides traded points, McGinnis dropped in a dump shot just over the net to make it 15-10. From there it was all Madonna as three straight aces from McGinnis and a 13-3 run to close game one game the Crusaders a 30-13 win in the opening game of the match.

Game two was a much closer affair as neither team could assume a lead of more than two points until a Whitney Fuelling dump shot just over the tape on top of the net and a block by Fuelling and Lubovj Tihomirova gave MU an 18-15 lead.

An ace from Amy Szymanski and  Fuelling made it 22-17 MU and the Crusaders kept extending the lead, using kills from McGinnis and Stephanie Parslow, along with a service error from Aquinas to seal game two 30-25.

Game three was similar to game two as neither team could establish a lead and hold onto it for more than a few rallies. Using what seemed to be the most popular shot of the night, Inta Grinvalds sent a dump shot over the net for a kill to give the Crusaders a 16-15 lead that the visitors would not relinquish. MU slowly crept away, using a Parslow kill and steady, consistent hitting to take game three 30-22 and the match, 3-0.

McGinnis led the offensive attack as the sophomore transfer tied her career high for kills in a three game match with 15 and added in three service aces, three digs and a block assist. Grinvalds added 33 assists and three digs of her own, in a winning effort.

The Crusaders have little time to enjoy the win, as second place Indiana Tech comes calling on Thursday night in the Activities Center for a 7pm first serve. Tech beat MU 3-2 at the Early Bird Invite on Aug. 25 in the only meeting between the two schools this season.

Contact:
Patrick Moore, Sports Information Director
(734) 432-5834
pimoore@madonna.edu