Aug. 30, 2006

Box Score

CINCINNATI - In its home opener, the Xavier volleyball team downed Marshall in four games on Wednesday night at Cintas Center. XU took the opening game, 30-20, followed by Marshall earning the second game, 32-30, before the Musketeers ended the match with scores of 30-13 and 30-13. The win moves the Blue and White to 3-1 on the season, while Marshall falls to 1-3 overall.

With the aide of a record-setting student attendance, XU jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after the first game. Freshman Lauren Kaminsky, with the score tied 5-5, would serve the next 10 points and give the Musketeers a comfortable 15-5 advantage early on. The Thundering Herd would battle back and make a couple runs but it was too much of a hurdle to overcome. Senior Danielle Skrajewski led the charge with six of XU's 22 kills on the game, while sophomore Jenn Welsh dished out 18 assists. Classmate Megan Hellman would notch eight digs as well, which would account for half of her career-high 16 on the evening.

The second game proved to be a battle from the start. With five ties and two lead changes, both teams would exchange volley after volley until the final points. The Musketeers pounded out 21 kills in the frame but four service errors and 11 attack errors would prove costly in the 32-30 defeat.

In the third and fourth games, Xavier responded to the Herd victory. Before Marshall could collect five points, Xavier posted scores of 20 and 17, respectively, and continued to put the pressure on the visitors. XU would only notch 14 and 15 kills in the respective games but only committed a total of three hitting errors in those two games. Senior Astyn Bjorklund would notch seven of her 16 kills in the third game with a .636 hitting percentage, while Kaminsky and junior Jill Quayle would tie for top honors with four kills in the final game.

The freshman Kaminsky would post her second double double of her career on the evening finishing with a career-high 16 kills and 17 digs along with two aces. Sophomore Megan Hellman would also have a career night as she posted a career-high 16 digs and added two assists in the win. Skrajewski would also post a double double on the night with 12 kills and 21 digs, which pushes her career total to 37 games with a double double. She missed her career-high in digs by only two as she had 23 against Temple in 2004. Classmate Bjorklund would also impress as she ended with 16 kills and a .429 hitting percentage to go along with one solo and three block assists. The final Musketeer with double-digit kills was junior Jill Quayle who ended with 15 kills, a .440 hitting percentage and just missed her career-high in block assists by two as she finished with seven on the match.

Xavier will travel south for the upcoming weekend and participate in the Florida International Tournament in Miami, Fla. The Musketeers will face No. 17 Cal, Oral Roberts and the host Golden Panthers of FIU. The first match against Cal will get underway at 4:00 pm on Friday afternoon and finish with two games on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm against FIU and 4:00 pm versus Oral Roberts. Catch all of the action live on GameTracker at www.GoXavier.com.