Site: Grand Rapids, Mich. (Forest Hills Northern HS)
Score: No. 9 Madonna 3, Aquinas 0 (25-15, 25-22, 26-24)
Records: MU (18-1; 6-0 WHAC), AQ (13-3; 3-2 WHAC)
Next MU event: Thursday, Oct. 1 vs. Michigan-Dearborn (Dearborn, Mich.)
DEARBORN, Mich. - - A match high 15 kills from junior outside hitter Liz Dempsey (Westland, Mich.) and a team hitting percentage of .344 helped the No. 9-ranked Madonna University volleyball team sweep the University of Michigan-Dearborn on Thursday (Oct. 1) 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-12) inside the UMD Field House.
Dempsey's kills paced all players while MU got nine terminations from senior outside Mary McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.). Senior setter Inta Grinvalds (Portage, Mich.) handed out 40 assists and sophomore libero Amanda Koszela (Dearborn, Mich.) posted a match best 16 digs. Sarah Gauer led UMD with five kills.
After the Crusaders tied the set at 4-4 on a kill from sophomore Katie Czarnecki (Chesterfield, Mich.), a trio of Dempsey kills along with a service ace from junior Anna Gatt (Livonia, Mich.) gave MU an 11-5 lead and forced UMD into a time out. Coming out of the break the MU lead grew to 13-5 on a block from sophomore Marie Martin (Canton, Mich.) and Grinvalds followed by another Dempsey kill. After an error by the Crusaders allowed the Wolves to pull to with in six at 21-15, head coach Jerry Abraham called a time out and the break worked as the Crusaders used kills from Anastasija Seremetjeva (Riga, Latvia) and Czarnecki before another Gatt ace ended the set in favor of MU at 25-15.
The second set was the tightest of the three as neither side held a lead of more the four points (UMD 7-3) until a block from sophomore Karie Altman (Taylor, Mich.) and McGinnis followed by a kill down the line from sophomore Megan Fricke (Wyandotte, Mich.) made it 22-17 MU. A pair of McGinnis kills along with a UMD error gave MU the 25-20 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set three was tight early until a Martin kill and two from Dempsey took a 7-7 tied score and made it 12-7 in favor of MU. From there the Crusader' lead grew as MU used a 13-5 run over the rest of the set, getting two blocks - including a solo from Anastasija Baranovska (Riga, Latvia) - along with kills from Altman, Czarnecki and McGinnis and taking advantage of five UMD mistakes in taking the set 25-12 and the match three sets to none.
The Crusaders will take the weekend off before a Tuesday (Oct. 6) showdown with Indiana Tech. First serve is set for 7pm inside the Activities Center.
