Theresa Coughlin's kill in the first game of Marquette's first match of the Holiday Inn Milwaukee Centre Volleyball Kick-off tournament gave her team a 26-22 lead versus North Dakota State, but it meant a little more than a four-point advantage for the Golden Eagles.

That play by Coughlin, a senior outside hitter, eventually led to Marquette winning the championship trophy, with her winning the most valuable player award for the tourney and claiming a place in the Marquette record books.

Compiling that kill, along with the 1,283 other ones that Coughlin has earned at Marquette, gave her the kills' record for the school.

"It was a feeling of excitement that I had a successful three and a quarter years right now," Coughlin said. "Right now, though, it's about seeing how far we can get as a team right now."

A pre-game injury did not even deter the team on their way to winning their first match of the season 3-0. While Marquette was warming up, freshman Katie Vancura injured her knee and had to be walked off the court. According to head coah Pati Rolf, Vancura will go for an MRI today but will likely miss the remainder of the season.

Rolf views Vancura's injury as a door opening for other players.

"It's a lost opportunity for Katie, but she'll be back. She has four more years to play, but at the same time it opens the door for Nicole Wallace," she said. "That's what life's about — it's a negative for Vancura, but Nicole Wallace will step into the new role and she will start for us now."

In their first match versus her alma mater as Marquette's head coach, Rolf watched her squad defeat the Bison 30-26, 30-22, and 30-26. Coughlin and sophomore outside hitter Kim Todd led Marquette with 12 kills each.

Though the Golden Eagles won the match in three games, the Bison did not go away. Marquette was not able to go on any serious runs during

the match while earning the victory.

"I like to beat them," Rolf said. "They beat me a number of times when I was at Minnesota-Duluth (as a head coach). Zaundra (Bina, North Dakota State's head coach) is a great person. They are a growing Division I program and they always come to our tournaments. One thing about North Dakota State is they are a bunch of fighters and they are getting better and better but I love beating them in three and getting them back from all those losses."

On day two of tournament action the Golden Eagles took on Viriginia Commonwealth and the Golden Eagles earned the victory after four games. After losing the first game 30-28, the team ran off a streak of three game wins with scores of 30-21, 30-26, and 30-20.

A tournament is tough on a volleyball team, combining so many games in only two days, but Coughlin takes a different view when it comes to these

tournaments.

"For a tournament I think it's more fun because it's not just one game and done," she said. "In high school you play ten games in a day and it brings back club volleyball. It's fun because you get to play with many people."

The final tournament match gave the Golden Eagles a date with Pacific, who lost to Virginia Commonwealth on Friday. A Golden Eagles win would have given them the outright victory in the tournament but the Tigers defeated the Golden Eagles three games to one.

"I think the team feeling was that it was just a hard match and some of the players were just out there to survive but what we need is to play to win,"

Coughlin said. "We pushed really hard but with every loss you learn new things."

By far the biggest team in the tournament, Pacific plays a similar game to Louisville, who defeated the Golden Eagles in the finals of the Conference USA

tournament last year.

"We are really trying to prepare for conference. We believe we can compete with teams like Louisville, but we are going to have to play teams like Pacific

who will teach us how to compete," Rolf said.

In other tournament action, North Dakota State lost to both Pacific and Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday.

The loss versus Pacific gave the Golden Eagles a record of 2-1 after the

tournament, tying them with Virginia Commonwealth and the Tigers. However, the Golden Eagles were named tournament champions because they scored the most points in the tournament.

The tournament team was announced shortly after the game and included sophomore outside hitter Kim Todd, and Jenn Brown from Marquette, Ashley Groothuis and Sidney Bennett from Pacific, and Griselle Lopez Pereira from Virginia Commonwealth.

For her efforts during the tournament Coughlin was named tournament MVP.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on August 29, 2005.