The Marquette women’s volleyball team won its own tournament today defeating Austin Peay 3-1 and Binghamton 3-0 to complete the two day sweep.
“We told our team that we were after hardware this year, so that’s a good start for us,” said head coach Bond Shymansky.
Ciara Jones won the highest honors and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Her thunderous hits struck fear into opponents and energized the home crowd.
“Last year this would never have happened. It’s a blessing having Bond here,” Jones said. “It feels good [to win]. That proves that everything that we’ve been doing and everything that he’s put in is actually working and is actually good”
Also receiving honors were setter Nikki Klingsporn and middle hitter Rabbecka Gonyo who were both named to the all-tournament team.
“Our team really came together. We really got tested out there but I think we proved what kind of team we are,” said Klingsporn.
The biggest test came in the final match of the day when the Golden Eagles took on Austin Peay. Big performances from Jones and junior Leslie Bielski who tallied 16 and 13 kills respectively coupled with stellar defense from freshman Kelsey Warner who collected 19 digs gave the Golden Eagles the victory (18-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-20) and the tournament.
Marquette hit poorly in the first set and was not able to put much of a block on Austin Peay. This combination proved to be a losing one as Marquette dropped the first set 18-25.
Marquette made the necessary corrections in the second and third sets getting a hand on most Austin Peay hits holding them to a dismal .083 hitting percentage in the second set and an even more frighting .050 hitting percentage in the third. The fourth and final set saw momentum swings for both teams but it would be Marquette coming out on top behind the strong hitting of Jones and Bielski.
Marquette disposed of the Binghamton Bearcats three sets to none in the first game of the day (25-22, 25-16 , 25-20). Leading the way for Marquette were Gonyo with nine kills and Klingsporn with 29 assists and four aces.
Looking sluggish out of the gate, the Golden Eagles fell behind 17-10 in the first set. A combination of big blocking by Marquette and missed serves by Binghamton allowed Marquette back into the set, however. At 23-22, a Leslie Bielski kill and a Danielle Carlson block gave Marquette the 24th and 25th points to take the set 25-22.
The Golden Eagles came out playing much quicker in the second set. Tied at seven, crisp passing and quick sets saw Marquette take seven of eight points to build a lead it would not relinquish winning 25-16.
The Bearcats would put up a fight in the third set using their scrappy defense to extend rallies but Marquette was firing at all cylinders by this point. The Golden Eagles hit .333, only committing one hitting error.