All-around team play and a few impressive individual performances led the Golden Eagles to a 3-1 victory over UW-Green Bay on Wednesday at the Al McGuire Center. The victory improved Marquette's season record to 10-8.
The team overcame a slow start in the first game to win. The Phoenix rallied to level the match wih a win in the second game, before Marquette won the match in four games.
The match was a team effort with Theresa Coughlin and Jamie Mueller getting 18 and 16 kills, respectively. Tiffany Helmbrecht had 11 kills and seven blocks.
"We got great games from Theresa and Jamie statistically," said head coach Pati Rolf. "Tiffany also had a great game for us."
In the first game, Marquette started slowly but took advantage of open spots to battle back and tie the game at 27. The Golden Eagles won six of the final seven points to win 30-28.
Early in the first game, the team scrambled to keep points alive but could not capitalize.
"We talked about taking care of the ball," Rolf said. "We had some reception errors in the poor games."
Marquette again fell behind early in the second game. Down 7-2 early, the Golden Eagles fought back to tie at 14. After eight points went back and forth, the Phoenix grabbed the momentum to win 30-23. Marquette's failure to close off blocks contributed to the second game loss.
The team took control of the match midway through the third game. Taking advantage of Phoenix miscues and with Helmbrecht dominating the net, the Golden Eagles never looked back, winning 30-18. Throughout the game, Marquette played power volleyball.
"Kim Todd had some big hits for us," Rolf said.
In the final game, Marquette took an early lead and made the most of UW-Green Bay's overpasses, winning 30-27.
"We had lots of enthusiasm tonight. We played hard and had great digs on the defensive side," Helmbrecht said.
"I think today was good for us," Coughlin said. "We've had lots of close losses, but it was nice to get the hitters involved."
The Golden Eagles will play host to Syracuse (15-7, 4-2) on Saturday at the Al McGuire Center.
"Syracuse is one of the top teams in the region," Rolf said. "We look forward to playing them."
"Saturday is big, Syracuse is good," Helmbrecht said. "We'll have to play our game."
This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 13, 2005.