Nov. 25, 2006

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - Sophomore libero Melissa Zenz (Cincinnati, OH/Ursuline Academy) set a single-season record for digs in a season and freshman middle hitter Megan Griffin posted a career-high 16 kills, but Miami dropped a four-game match to Valparaiso in its final tilt of the 2006 season. Miami finished its season with a 13-19 record while Valparaiso concluded its regular season with a 23-12 mark.

Three errors by the Crusaders and two kills by junior middle hitter Carli Reihman (Cincinnati, OH/Ursuline Academy) catapulted Miami to a 12-5 lead in Game 1. With the RedHawks holding a four-point lead at 17-13, the Crusaders took seven of the next eight points to hold a 20-18 advantage. The RedHawks closed within one point six times, with the last coming at 25-24, but three kills by Angie Porche led Valparaiso to a 30-24 Game 1 victory.

Valparaiso jumped on Miami early in Game 2 as the Crusaders took nine of the first ten points to hold an eight-point cushion at 9-1. Strong serving by junior outside hitter Jeanna Staun (Cincinnati, OH/Ursuline Academy) and freshman middle hitter Hallie Hanks (Chagrin Falls, OH/Kenston) quickly cut its deficit to one at 10-9. Valparaiso slowly extended its lead to four at 20-16, but Miami mounted a comeback to take a one-point lead at 22-21. The game was tied as late as 27-27, but three Crusader errors gave the RedHawks a 30-27 Game 2 win. With the match tied at 27-27, Zenz collected her 14th dig of the match, giving her the single-season digs record and surpassed Suzy Wolford's 501 digs last season.

Miami failed to get anything going in Game 3 as Valparaiso jumped out to an 8-3 lead. Back-to-back kills by Griffin cut Miami's deficit to three, 12-9, but that was the closest the RedHawks came to the Crusaders as Valparaiso won the third game, 30-20.

Game 4 started with the Crusaders taking a 6-1 advantage. Kills by Reihman, Staun and Griffin helped Miami cut its deficit to two at 10-8. Valparaiso kept the pressure on taking 10 of the next 14 points to extend its lead to six. The six-point lead proved to be enough as the Crusaders took the fourth game and the match, 30-24.

Griffin led the RedHawks with a career-high 16 kills, while hitting at a .467 clip. Defensively, Zenz led Miami with 19 digs.

Two Crusaders posted 20-plus kills as Angie Porche tallied a match-high 24 kills and Nicole Schulz collected 22 kills. Brittany Marks had a match-best 23 digs.

For Miami, Reihman and Griffin were named to the all-tournament team and they were joined by Sara Hughes and Allison Sears of Valparaiso. Katie Mann and Natalie Barba earned all-tournament honors from Fairfield. The most valuable player of the tournament went to Nicole Schulz of Valparaiso.

NOTES: For the season, sophomore outside hitter Emily Schroeder (Indianapolis, IN/Bishop Chatard) finished second on the single-season kills list with 494 kills. Schroeder also set the single-season record for kills per game averaging 4.37 kpg on the season surpassing Kathy Tepe's 4.26 kpg set in 1985.

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