Site: Dearborn, Mich. (UMD Field House)
Score: No. 12 Madonna 3, No. 13 Olivet Nazarene 1
Records: MU 3-0, ONU 3-1
Next MU Event: Early Bird Classic Day Two - Aug. 29 - vs. Northwestern Ohio - 3:15pm
DEARBORN, Mich. - - In its first top-15 showdown of the season, the No. 12-ranked Madonna University volleyball team downed No. 13-ranked Olivet Nazarene 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 25-21) to open day two of the UMD Early Bird Challenge inside the UMD Field House.
Madonna (3-0) got a career and match high 17 kills and 20 digs from junior outside Liz Dempsey (Westland, Mich.) to go along with 16 kills from senior outside Mary McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) and a career best 13 terminations from sophomore middle Karie Altman (Taylor, Mich.) in the win. Senior setter Inta Grinvalds (Portage, Mich.) handed out 52 assists while sophomore libero Amanda Koszela (Dearborn, Mich.) added 19 digs on the defensive side.
The Crusaders led through out most of set one, going up 12-9 on a McGinnis kill from Grinvalds and forcing an ONU (1-3) time out. Coming out of the break Madonna kept the offense clicking and pushed the lead to five at 20-15 on an Altman kill. After another Altman kill made it 24-18, ONU put up three straight points to stave off set point but another McGinnis kill ended the set at 25-21 and gave MU the 1-0 lead in the match.
Set two was not kind to MU as the Crusaders hit -.029, connecting on just nine of 34 swings and fell 25-17 after leading just once, at 1-0.
The third set of the match saw ONU lead early and put a firm hold its lead until a kill from Dempsey trimmed the lead to just three at 22-19 Tigers. Dempsey then stepped to the service line and reeled off three straight aces to tie the set at 22-22. After an error, McGinnis put a ball to the floor to square things at 23 before kills from McGinnis and Katie Czarnecki (Chesterfield, Mich.) ended the set and gave MU the 25-23 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The final set of the match was the tightest of the four with 11 ties and three lead changes. After an Altman kill provided tie 11, the Crusaders took advantage of three Tiger errors and another Altman kill to seal up the 25-21 win and a 3-1 win in the match.
The Crusaders wrap up play at the Early Bird Challenge at 3:15pm against Northwestern Ohio.
