MU Splits Pair Of Top 10
Matches At PLNU
August 30,
2008
COLLEGE OF IDAHO BOX SCORE |
POINT LOMA BOX SCORE
SAN
DIEGO, Calif. - -
The
10th-ranked Madonna Crusaders split their two top-10 battles on Saturday
afternoon at Golden Gymnasium on the campus of Point Loma Nazarene. MU downed
No. 9 College of Idaho 3-2 to open the day but fell to No. 8 and host Point Loma
3-1 in the night cap. The matches closed out the 2008 Seaside Invitational. The
split makes Madonna 8-1 on the season. Seniors Whitney Fuelling and
Lubovj Tihomirova were honored as members of the all-tournament team for
their efforts this weekend.
COLLEGE OF IDAHO
Tihomirova led the offensive attack against COI with 14 kills. She also
posted seven block assists. Fuelling added 14 more kills while providing eight
block assists of her own in the winning effort.
MU dropped the opening set 25-22 but rebounded to square the match at 1-1 with a
25-22 win of its own in set two. Fuelling led MU with nine kills in the second
set while Inta Grinvalds and Mary McGinnis each had a solo block
for Madonna.
Idaho took set three 25-18, the widest margin of any of the five sets. MU got
four kills from freshman Megan Fricke in the set, but could not stop the
attack of Sarah Bueler who had seven of COI’s 18 kills in the set. The Crusaders
came back to force a fifth set after winning set four by a final of 25-21.
Tihomirova led MU with four kills.
The
final and deciding set started out looking like Madonna would cruise as the
Crusaders had a 13-6 lead before Idaho score five straight points to make it
13-11 and force MU boss Jerry Abraham to call a time out. Coming out of
the break, COI made it 13-12 before back-to-back kills from Grinvalds and
Tihomirova gave MU points 14 and 15 and a 15-12 set win and a 3-2 win in the
match.
Grinvalds quarterbacked the offense, handing out a season high 45 assists while
Brynn Kerr had 13 digs to lead MU with Grinvalds adding 10 of her own,
for her first double-double of the season.
POINT LOMA NAZARENE
The
Crusaders and Sea Lions squared off for the 2008 championship in a rematch of
the 2007 Seaside championship match. Much like in 2007, PLNU took home the
hardware, winning the match 3-1 to take home the title.
Tihomirova led the Crusader attack again, this time with 17 kills while Fricke
had her coming out party, sending down a career high 13 kills against just two
errors to lead MU with a .478 hitting percentage.
PLNU took set one 25-20 behind a five kill performance from Tabatha Henken. MU
came back to square the match at one-all with a 25-22 win with six kills from
Tihomirova and five from Fricke.
Point Loma took sets three and four to seal the match with 25-19 and 25-21 wins
to take the match by a 3-1 final.
Grinvalds had her second straight double-double with 43 assists and 11 digs
while Kerr had 14 digs to lead Madonna.
The
Crusaders return home with an 8-1 record and will jump back into action next
Friday and Saturday as the team hosts the annual Julie Martin Memorial
Tournament at the Activities Center. Friday’s action pits Madonna against
Davenport at 3pm and the Crusaders close out Friday with a 7pm match against
Cedarville. On Saturday MU battles Windsor at 9:30am and will wrap up tournament
action against Spring Arbor at 1:30pm.
The
annual Julie Martin Memorial Scholarship Dinner is set for Thursday night in the
University Center. Tickets for that event are $25 and can be purchased by
calling the Madonna Athletic Department at 734.432.5608.
Contact:
Patrick Moore, Sports Information Director
(734) 432-5834
pimoore@madonna.edu
