The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Women’s Volleyball

Though the Aggies came into the match with a national ranking, the number in front of their team did not have an affect on the Eagles.

"We (the team) did not feel like we were going in to play 31 ranked Texas A&M," said sophomore outside hitter Theresa Coughlin. "We felt that were going in to play Texas A&M – the ranking had no affect on us. We knew that we just had to come out and play as strong as we could."

Saturday brought a new day and a new opponent as the Golden Eagles went to battle with the tournament hosting Duke Blue Devils. The match, which lasted close to three hours, saw the Eagles defeat the Blue Devils in five sets. Duke actually won two of the first three sets and was leading late in the fourth set before the Eagles rallied late and won sets number four and five.

Although the match did last nearly three hours Coughlin did pay attention to how much time they were on the court.

"The match did not seem long at all," Coughlin said. "There was a very exciting atmosphere at the game with a great amount of noise. It did not feel like we were playing for three hours, it felt as if we were playing five matches. It was a fun match to be a part of."

Later on Saturday night the team finished off the tournament when they took on Pittsburgh, who at the time had a tournament record of 1-1. The match only went to three sets, with Pitt earning the victory with final scores of, 30-19, 30-23, and 30-24.

After the marathon that was the Duke match, the Eagles had to come back onto the court one more time. This however, did not affect Coughlin.

"It wasn't a feeling of tiredness when we went back to play Pitt," she said. "I felt the Duke game when our game against Pitt had ended, but on the floor I don't think we were tired at all."

For Marquette, Coughlin was the lone representative on the tournament team, joining Laura Jones, Melissa Munsch and Carol Price of Texas A&M; Gini Ullery, Wendy Hatlestad and Megan McGrane of Pittsburgh; and Duke's Tassy Rufai.

The weekend gave only a sneak-peak into the upcoming season, but Coughlin has some idea as to what type of team the Eagles will be this year.

"I think we are going to be a speed team this season due to our medium size," she said. "We have a fast group with a defense that has done a great job of picking up a ton of balls already this year."

The team hits the road again next weekend for the University of Minnesota Tournament. Friday the team takes on Dayton, followed by matches against Kansas and Minnesota on Saturday.

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