Volleyball Rolls to a
Pair of Wins at Early Bird
August 22,
2008
POINT PARK BOX SCORE |
MT. VERNON NAZARENE BOX SCORE
DEARBORN, Mich.
- - The 10th-ranked
Madonna volleyball team used a 12 kill performance from Mary McGinnis to
knock off No. 25 Mount Vernon Nazarene and clinch the 2008 Early Bird Challenge
championship on Saturday at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The win marks
the first Early Bird title for MU since 2006. The Crusaders’ 27-25, 25-17 and
25-16 win improves the squad to 5-0 on the season.
McGinnis
hit at a .476 clip with three digs, a service ace and a block to her all-around
performance. Senior All-American Lubovj Tihomirova added 13 kills to go
along with a solo block and three block assists.
The
Crusaders held the lead in set one of the match until back-to-back attack errors
by Tihomirova gave the Cougars the lead at 23-22. Tihomirova and Whitney
Fuelling gave MU the lead back with kills of their own to make it 24-23.
MVNU tied the set at 24 all and again at 25 all before kills from McGinnis and
Megan Fricke provided the final margin of victory at 27-25.
Set two
of the match saw MU jump out to a 9-6 lead forcing MVNU to call a time out.
Madonna maintained its lead, never by fewer than two points before using four
straight points with Inta Grinvalds at the service line to extend the lead to
19-13. After seeing the Cougars climb back into the set at 21-15, the Crusaders
put up the final two points of the set on kills from McGinnis to seal up the win
at 25-17.
The
final set saw the set tied at 6-6 before Madonna used solid serving and serve
receive to go on a 19-10 run and take the win in the set 25-16 and the match
3-0. Inta Grinvalds steadied the offense with 35 assists and nine digs
while Fuelling hit at a .375 clip with her eight kills.
In the
first match of the day, Madonna downed Point Park 3-0 (25-15, 26-24, 25-19).
Tihomirova led the offense with 11 kills while Fuelling and McGinnis added nine
each.
The wins
pulled head coach Jerry Abraham to 849 wins, just three behind Mt. Vernon boss
Paul Swanson’s record 852. Abraham has his next chance to move closer to the
all-time wins mark as the Crusaders swing back into action next weekend at the
Seaside Classic hosted by Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego, Calif.
Contact:
Patrick Moore, Sports Information Director
(734) 432-5834
pimoore@madonna.edu
