Crusaders Roll To Open
Martin Memorial
September
05,
2008
DU BOX SCORE |
CU BOX SCORE
LIVONIA,
Mich. - -
The 10th-ranked Madonna volleyball team swept
through day one of the 2008 Julie Martin Memorial Tournament on Friday with a
3-0 win over Davenport and a 3-1 win over Cedarville. MU is now 10-1 on the
season.
DAVENPORT
Hitting at a .429 clip, Madonna rolled over WHAC foe Davenport in a non-league
match up to open play at the tournament. All-American Lubovj Tihomirova
led MU with 15 kills against just two errors for a .591 attacking percentage
while fellow senior Whitney Fuelling put down 11 balls against just two
errors to hit at .500 in a 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-15) win.
In the
opening set MU never trailed and raced out to a 9-2 lead, forcing DU into a time
out. Coming out of the stoppage, the Crusaders surrendered a point but then
built the lead up to 19-9 on a Karie Altman kill from WHAC assist leader
Inta Grinvalds. The two sides traded points but the MU lead was to large
for DU to overcome and a Mary McGinnis kill off of a Grinvalds cross
court set gave the Crusaders a 25-14 win.
Set two
was the most lopsided of the match as MU led 11-2 after back-to-back attack
errors by Davenport. The Crusaders closed the set on an 8-2 run to cruise to the
25-12 win.
The
final set of the match saw the match’s only lead for DU (1-0) and the match’s
only ties at 1-1 and 2-2 before MU again built out an 8-3 lead, forcing a DU
time out. A 6-1 run forced the Panthers into another time out with MU ahead
14-4. The Panthers tried to climb back into the set with a 5-3 run, cutting the
Crusader lead to nine at 18-9 but the Crusaders scored seven of the match’s last
13 points to seal the win with a 25-15 win and the 3-0 sweep.
Grinvalds handed out 31 assists while Brynn Kerr chipped in with seven
digs to go along with six from Amanda Koszela.
CEDARVILLE
The Crusaders had to go four sets, but in the end MU took its second match of
the day over Cedarville by a 3-1 final. MU got 17 kills from Tihomirova, 16 from
McGinnis and 13 more from Fuelling in the 25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22 win.
The
Crusaders opened a 7-0 lead in set one and it appeared that MU would roll.
Cedarville had other plans and after battling back into the set, the Lady
Jackets tied the set at 17-17 on a Sarah Hartman kill. Madonna then went on an
8-2 run to close the set with a 25-19 win.
Set two
saw the two sides battle back and forth with neither side able to hold a lead of
more than four and that was a 13-9 Madonna lead. A Tihomirova attack error cut
the MU lead to just one at 20-19 but a CU service error combined with kills from
Altman and McGinnis pushed Madonna to the 25-22 win.
Cedarville rebounded to take set three, never trailing and holding as much as a
five point lead on five separate occasions, including in the final margin of
victory at 25-20.
Set four
was much like the first two as the teams traded point with Madonna holding a
five point lead just once (15-10) after trailing on 3-1 to open the set. MU took
the lead for good at 5-4 but could not get it past the five point threshold. A
Tihomirova kill made it 23-22 before back-to-back attack errors on CU gave the
Crusaders a three point win in the set and a 3-1 match win.
Grinvalds continued to lead the MU attack, passing out 50 assists to go along
with eight digs and four blocks. Junior Abby Long posted a season best 10
digs while Kerr led MU with 17.
Madonna
swings back into action with two more matches on Saturday. The Crusaders face
Windsor at 9:30am and close tournament action at 1:30pm against Spring Arbor.
Contact:
Patrick Moore, Sports Information Director
(734) 432-5834
pimoore@madonna.edu
