Most teams finishing a season with a 5-7 record would not view that as a success, but Marquette women's volleyball has been encouraged after its spring campaign.

New coach Bond Shymansky has familiarized his players with a new, quicker offense, and his team competed without having all the necessary pieces in place.

"The biggest things that we're trying to install with our program right now are work ethic and offensive system, and we're doing well in both categories," Shymansky said.

Marquette finished spring play last Thursday, losing on the road to Wisconsin-Milwaukee 3-2 (26-24, 20-25, 19-25, 25-21, 11-15).

Although official statistics are not kept during the spring, freshman outside hitter Ciara Jones led the team in kills against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It may be something Marquette fans will get used to seeing after she showed flashes of greatness in the fall.

Jones appeared in 39 games and hit .135 last season, and will have to cut down on her errors to raise her hitting percentage. In the fall she had 73 kills with just 45 errors.

Much of the spring season has been focused on learning a quicker offensive style, with the ball rarely set more than four feet above the net. New setter Nikki Klingsporn has had to make a few adjustments to get used to the new style of play.

"The tempo doesn't go any higher than the antenna, so it's just a matter of making everything faster with my tempo," Klingsporn said.

Klingsporn has also been adjusting to new teammates and a new coach, and has quickly embraced the leadership that comes with being a setter.

"Nikki's doing a great job, she's taking on a leadership role and she's just coming right in and getting stuff done," junior Hailey Viola said.

Besides competing on the court, Marquette also accomplished one of its goals off the court by signing outside hitter Ashley Beyer to a letter of intent.

She will join the team in the fall and will have three years of eligibility at Marquette.

"It has been a long recruiting process and it's rewarding to see the goal come to fruition," Shymansky said. "Ashley has a great all-around game, and will be a huge asset to our expected success this fall."

Beyer comes to Marquette after completing her freshman year at Kishwaukee (Ill.) College, where she was a 2008 AVCA Two-Year Colleges First Team All-American. Among her accomplishments at Kishwaukee were setting the school's single season kills record (784) and being named tournament MVP while leading the Kougars to a third straight NJCAA Division II national championship. She also led the country with 197 aces.

Beyer joins Leslie Bielski and Jones as the other outside hitters for Marquette, but whether she cracks the starting lineup right away will be up to Shymansky.