Site: Fort Wayne, Ind. (Schafer Center)
Score: Madonna 3, Aquinas 1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-19, 25-17)
Records: MU 32-6; AC 26-6
Next MU Event: Saturday November 14 vs. Indiana Tech (Fort Wayne, Ind.)

BOX SCORE

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (MadonnaCrusaders.com) - - Friday the 13^th turned out to be a good day as a balanced offensive attack led by 11 kills from sophomore Katie Czarnecki (Chesterfield, Mich.) propelled the No. 22-ranked Madonna University volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-19, 25-17) win over Aquinas College in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Semi-Finals on Friday night (Nov. 13) inside the Schafer Center.

In addition to the 11 terminations from Czarnecki, MU picked up nine kills each from both senior Mary McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) and junior Liz Dempsey (Westland, Mich.) to go along with seven from sophomore Karie Altman (Taylor, Mich.). Senior Inta Grinvalds (Portage, Mich.) handed out 36 assists while sophomore Amanda Koszela (Dearborn, Mich.) led all players with 11 digs. Mollie Lounds posted a match high 13 kills for AQ.

In the deciding fourth set the Crusaders and Saints traded points early with neither side holding a lead of more than three points until senior Abby Long (LaPorte, Ind.) stepped to the service line for the Crusaders. Long reeled off three straight points, including one of MU's 10 aces on the night to push the royal blue and gold from being 15-14 to up 17-15. The Crusaders would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way, taking advantage of five AQ miscues and getting a kill from Dempsey along with a combo block from Altman and Grinvalds to take the set 25-17 and the match 3-1.

Set one of the match was back and forth early until MU went on a 4-0 run to go from up 15-14 to a 19-14 lead thanks to kills from Czarnecki and McGinnis during the run. MU got to set point on an AQ mistake before a Dempsey kill ended the set at 25-19 in favor of the Crusaders.

As well as MU played in set one, the Crusaders played the polar opposite in set two, essentially beating themselves with 11 errors against just eight kills for a -.091 attack percentage to see AQ tie the match one set each with a 25-18 win.

Following the intermission between sets two and three, the Crusaders came out for the third set and led through out, using a match best .273 attack percentage to win 25-18. In the set MU was led by five kills from McGinnis and three each from Altman and Dempsey in the seven point win.

The Crusaders return to the court on Saturday's WHAC Championship in a Noon match against the No. 1 seeded Warriors of Indiana Tech. The Crusader Radio Network will have live coverage of the match starting at 11:50am.

Contact: Patrick Moore (734) 432-5834