ANN ARBOR, Mich. (MadonnaCrusaders.com) - - Behind a blanced attack and a match-best 14 kills from sophomore Karie Altman (Taylor, Mich.), the No. 18-ranked Madonna University volleyball team swept Concordia 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-10) on Thursday (Oct. 15) inside Cardinal Field House.

In addition to Alrman's night MU got 11 kills each from junior Liz Dempsey (Westland, Mich.) and senior Mary McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) to go along with a career best seven terminations from sophomore Marie Martin (Canton, Mich.). Senior Inta Grinvalds (Portage, Mich.) handed out 45 assists and dug 11 balls while sophomore Amanda Koszela (Dearborn, Mich.) led MU with 15 digs.

Concordia held the lead early in set one until a McGinnis kill gave MU a 14-13 lead that the Crusaders would not relinquish the rest of the way. A pair of Dempsey kills wrapped around a termination from Altman gave MU a 23-15 lead and forced CUAA into a time out. A CUAA mistake gave MU set point at 24-18 but two MU mistakes kept the set going before Altman ended it on a slide from Grinvalds in a 25-20 final.

Set two was MU's best of the night as the Crusaders hit at a .543 clip, posting 14 kills against zero errors in winning 25-14. Martin posted four of her kills in the set as MU took the lead for good at 4-3 and never looked back, winning by nine.

The final set of the night was all Madonna from the start as the Royal Blue and Gold raced out to a 10-2 lead behind a pair of blocks from sophomore Megan Fricke (Wyandotte, Mich.) and freshman Anastasija Seremetjeva (Riga, Latvia) to go along with kills from Altman, Dempsey, Fricke and McGinnis. The Cardinals pulled to with in six at 12-6 but a 6-0 run by Madonna pushed the lead to 18-6 and from there another MU run - this one 7-4 - ended the set at 25-10, giving Madonna the 3-0 sweep.

The Crusaders return to the court on Tuesday (Oct. 20), traveling to Davenport for a 7pm match.