Oct. 29, 2006

Final Stats

Villanova, PA - The Villanova Wildcats were unable to hang onto a 2-1 lead against the Marquette Golden Eagles on Sunday afternoon, losing in five games (30-25, 19-30, 30-28, 19-30, 13-15). After pulling out a very difficult third game, the Wildcats were unable to regain their offensive touch in the final two games and suffered the loss.

As a team, Villanova hit just .174 for the match while Marquette was able to hit .278, including a blistering .645 in the second game. Villanova was led by Alona Cherkez (Crimea, Ukraine) with 19 kills and a .357 hitting percentage. Adrian Semrau (Grafton, Ohio) had 13 kills and seven blocks and Kacy Sellers (Battle Creek, Mich.) added 12 kills and eight digs.

Jenna Link (Wheaton, Ill) and Chelsea Graman (Cincinnati, Ohio) split time at the setter position, with Link finishing with 26 assists and Graman having 23. Dana Tartasky (Haifa, Israel) was the lone Wildcat to reach double-figure digs with 12.

Marquette got a tremendous performace from Jamie Mueller, who logged 38 kills and 14 digs. She also hit .459 for the match, committing just 10 errors in 61 attempts. Monica Renfrom had 65 assists for the Golden Eagles offense as well.

In game one, Villanova held a three or four point lead for most of the game and extended at the end for the five point win. The recorded their best team hitting percentage in the first game, .235.

Game two was all Marquette, as they hit .645, collecting 21 kills and committing just one attack error.

Game three was a very close game the entire way, with Villanova leading by three early. Later in the game, Marquette rallied to take a two point advantage at 22-20. But the Wildcats battled back and kills by Elysse Studzinski (Homer Glen, Ill.) and Cherkez closed out the game, 30-28.

Just like in game two, the Wildcats were unable to carry the momentum from winning the previous game over to the next game. But Marquette came out firing in game four and got some help from eight Wildcat attack errors in the game to win 30-19.

In the fifth and final game, Villanova got out to a 3-1 lead early, but Maquette rallied once again to even the score and it would be close throughout. But in the end, two Wildcat errors proved to be the difference, as the Golden Eagles escaped with a 15-13 win.

Villanova will return to action at home on Wednesday, November 1, when they play host to Big Five rival, the Temple Owls. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 P.M.