When Alec Baldwin confronts a group of real estate salesmen in the movie "Glengarry Glen Ross,"his key to success is A-B-C (always be closing). Baldwin would have had fits with the Marquette women's volleyball team this weekend.

The team was up 2-0 on Colorado and 2-1 on Creighton before losing both of those matches and a match to Stanford at the Colorado Invitational, dropping their record to 5-4 on the season.

"We have to learn how to finish out," said head coach Pati Rolf.

The first match of the tournament brought about the toughest test of the season for the Golden Eagles when they faced Stanford in their first game of the Colorado Invitational.Game one of the match saw the Cardinals completely handcuff the Golden Eagles. Stanford hit at 33 percentwhile the Golden Eagles were held to a mere four percent, which gave Stanford a 30-17 victory.

The second game was the most competitive of the three. The teams were tied at 22, but Stanford went on a four-point run and eventually won the game, with the Golden Eagles only scoring one more point before losing 30-23.

"I thought we had a chance to win that second game, and against Stanford you really shouldn't feel like you have a chance to win," Rolf said.

The Golden Eagles were never able to develop a rhythm in the third game as Stanford won the decisive third game 30-19.

Tournament host Colorado brought the next challenge to the Golden Eagles in their second match of the tournament. The Golden Eagles had the Buffaloes on the ropes by winning the first two games but Colorado came back and won the last three to earn the match win.

In their final match the Golden Eagles took on Creighton, which came into the match on the same boat as the Golden Eagles, having not yet won a match in the tournament. In another five game match the Golden Eagles again fell, this time having a 2-1 lead going into the fourth game.

The Blue Jays rallied to win the final two games including a 16-14 victory in the final game.

Though the team came out of the weekend with no match wins, it gave Rolf quite the view of where this team could end up.

"This weekend showed me the most talented group I had seen in my four years for six games," Rolf said.

"It was a bittersweet thing to see in terms of the record, but we are not playing for record. We are playing these matches so we will be ready to play those really big teams, and we will not be surprised."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 13, 2005.