Nov. 29, 2008

Final Stats

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Miami University volleyball team closed the regular season with a dominating 3-0 win over Marquette (25-17, 25-19, 25-9) Saturday at the Holiday Inn West Bronco Thanksgiving Classic. Miami improves to 21-11 overall, while the Golden Eagles fall to 11-18.

The RedHawks will now wait to see if their overall record and third place finish in the Mid-American Conference will warrant an at-large selection into the NCAA Tournament. The selection show airs Sunday at 10 p.m. on ESPNU.

Kills by Maria Leahy, Emily Schroeder, Hallie Hanks and Andrea Atteberry helped Miami jump to an 8-4 lead in set one. The teams traded points until the RedHawks were ahead 20-16. From there, Schroeder scored another kill, which was followed by a service ace from Melissa Zenz to push the lead to 22-16 and force the Golden Eagles to call timeout. That did not help as Miami forced Marquette into an attack error and Zenz scored another ace to create set point. Two points later, another Golden Eagles attack error gave the RedHawks the 25-17 set win.

Led by two kills from Megan Griffin, as well as a block from Amy Raseman and Griffin, Miami once again opened up a large lead (9-3) in set two. The RedHawks pushed the lead to as large as 11 points at 17-6, a run that was finished by two consecutive service aces from Leahy. Marquette went on a 13-7 run to pull within five at 19-24, but Miami forced the Golden Eagles into an attack error to take the set 25-19.

After dropping the first point in set three, Miami proceeded to take 20 of the next 22 points to build a 20-4 lead. Schroeder scored seven kills during that run, while Atteberry nine assists. That proved to be more than enough as the teams traded points from there, and the RedHawks won set three 25-9 on a Marquette service error.

Schroeder led the team with 15 kills. Zenz had 13 digs, while Atteberry recorded 37 assists. Miami hit .367 for the team, compared to .082 for Marquette, and out-dug the Golden Eagles 53-37.

While the RedHawks are hoping to continue playing with an NCAA berth, they have had several great accomplishments this season. The 21 wins are the most since 1998. Griffin is currently hitting .357. If that is her final mark it will tie for the greatest single season hitting percentage in school history. Zenz now has 1,459 career digs at Miami, which is second all-time, only eight short of the all-time record. Schroeder is second in career kills as a RedHawk with 1,437.

 

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