NOTRE DAME BOX SCORE | BETHEL BOX SCORE

DEARBORN, Mich. - - The No. 12-ranked Madonna University volleyball team had to battle in both matches on day one of the Early Bird Challenge inside the UMD Field House but a career night from junior outside hitter Liz Dempsey (Westland, Mich.) propelled the Crusaders to a 3-1 (26-28, 25-22, 25-15, 29-27) win over Notre Dame in the opener and a 3-0 (27-25, 25-3, 25-15) win over Bethel in the night cap.

NOTRE DAME
After opening set one shaky and falling 28-26, the Crusaders rebounded to sweep the next three sets for a 3-1 win over Notre Dame in the season opener for MU.

In the opener the Crusaders (2-0) got career high 16 kills and 12 digs from Dempsey to go along with 19 kills from senior outside hitter Mary McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) 12 kills from sophomore middle Karie Altman (Taylor, Mich.) and 11 terminations from sophomore Katie Czarnecki (Chesterfield, Mich.) in her Crusader debut. Sophomore libero Amanda Koszela (Dearborn, Mich.) led the way with 26 digs and senior setter Inta Grinvalds (Portage, Mich.) handed out 62 assists.

MU jumped out to a 10-6 lead in set one after back-to-back attack errors by ND. The Falcons tied the set at 10-all and took a 13-12 lead to force the Crusaders to call a time out. Coming out of the break Notre Dame held onto its lead, pushing the cushion to 19-16 before a McGinnis kill and two straight ND attack errors tied the set at 19-19. After a Falcon time out the Crusaders took a 21-19 lead on kills from Dempsey and Czarnecki.

From there the two sides traded the lead back and forth with neither holding an edge of more than two until the Falcons closed the set on a Mandy Bastian kill for a 28-26 win.

The second set of the match saw the Crusaders down 6-1 early before falling behind 10-6 and 13-10 before another Dempsey kill in front of a pair of Falcon attack errors and a pair of Crusader blocks from sophomore middle Marie Martin (Canton, Mich.) and Dempsey pulled MU back into the lead at 15-13.

Notre Dame tied the set at 17-all before Madonna took a lead it would not relinquish on a Dempsey termination to make it 18-17. A Dempsey ace made it 20-17 and three Altman kills followed by another termination from Martin finished the set for MU with a 25-22 win.

Set three was all MU as the Crusaders trailed just one - at 2-1 - before cruising to the 25-15 win behind five Altman kills and three more from Dempsey to move in front 2-1 in the match.

The fourth and final set of the match went to extra points like the first. The Falcons led early, holding a four-point lead on five separate occasions before the Crusaders rallied behind a pair of Czarnecki kills to go along with finishes from Altman, Dempsey, Martin and McGinnis to tie the set at 12-all.

The two sides traded the lead back and forth again until Notre Dame built out three separate three-point leads, the last coming at 22-19. The lead went from team to team again until a Dempsey kill made it 27-27 and another kill from the junior gave the Crusaders match point at 28-27. A Falcon attack error gave the Crusaders the set at 29-27 and the match 3-1.

BETHEL
Playing less than 45 minutes after the completion of their first match of the season, the Crusaders seemed to have a bit of hangover from the opener as set one against the Pilots of Bethel was a tightly contested affair from the opening whistle.

MU found itself down 13-7 before having to rally and tying the set at 15-15. The set was tied five more times from that point until McGinnis tied the set at 25 to stave off set point. Another McGinnis kill gave the Crusaders set point at 26-25 and a Martin termination off of a Pilot overpass gave MU the opening set 27-25.

As even as the first set was, set two was the polar opposite as MU rolled 25-3 to go in front 2-0 in the match. The set saw just three Crusaders step to the service line but those three provided four aces. MU jumped out in front early 9-0 and never looked back. Back-to-back kills from McGinnis followed by a combo block of Martin and McGinnis sealed the set for the Crusaders at 25-3.

The final set of the night was once again all Madonna as the Royal Blue and Gold cruised 25-15 to sweep the match three sets to none. A Koszela ace put MU in front 14-5 while freshman outside Anastasija Baranovska (Riga, Latvia) recorded her first career kill to put MU in front 17-7. From that point the Crusaders used a pair of Czarnecki kills and took advantage of three Pilot attack errors before ending the set and the match with an Altman kill from a Grinvalds set for the win.

McGinnis was the only Crusader to crack double figures in kills against Bethel with 12. Dempsey added eight while Altman posted four and Czarnecki and Martin added three. Grinvalds posted 28 assists while Koszela dug 17 balls and Dempsey posted her second straight match with double digit digs with 12.