BOX SCORE

LIVONIA, Mich. - - The No. 9-ranked Madonna University volleyball team used three double-digit kill performances to sweep Shawnee State 3-0 (27-25, 25-23, 25-23) on Saturday (Sept. 12) morning to open day two of the Julie Martin Memorial Classic inside the Activities Center on the MU campus.

Junior outside hitter Liz Dempsey (Westland, Mich.) led MU with 14 kills while senior outside hitter Mary McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) added 13 while sophomore middle hitter Karie Altman (Taylor, Mich.) chipped in with 10. Senior setter Inta Grinvalds (Portage, Mich.) handed out 44 assists while sophomore libero Amanda Koszela (Dearborn, Mich.) dug a team best 14 balls.

Set one was back and forth with seven ties and a trio of lead changes. A McGinnis kill made it 25-24 but SSU tied the set at 25-all with a kill and force extra points. McGinnis and Marie Martin (Canton, Mich.) posted back-to-back kills to end the set at 27-25 for Madonna.

The second set was almost a mirror image of set one with nine ties and seven lead changes. A termination from Dempsey made it 23-20. After a Crusader miscue, Martin gave the home side its first set point 24-21 with a cross court kill. SSU pulled to with in one at 24-23 but coming out of a Crusader time out, Dempsey hammed home a Grinvalds set down the line for a 25-23 win.

The Crusaders took a 3-2 lead in set three on a McGinnis kill and three straight Altman kills pushed the Madonna lead to 15-7 and forced a Shawnee State time out. SSU tied the set at 19-all on a MU miscue but Dempsey gave the home team the lead back at 20-19 on a kill down the line. A pair of McGinnis kills wrapped around a Crusader hitting error gave MU set three 25-23 and a 3-0 win in the match.

Madonna returns to the court at 1:30pm to wrap up the Martin Memorial Classic against Windsor.