Nov. 26, 2005

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - In the final regular season match of the season, Xavier swept Kent State to finish 2-0 and claim first place in the A-10/MAC Challenge hosted by the University of Dayton. The Musketeers took the match with scores of 30-23, 30-23 and 30-26. XU finishes the 2005 campaign with an overall mark of 21-11, while Kent State drops to 9-22 on the season.

Senior Kate Duchek had 13 kills in the match marking the 86th time in her career she has had 10 or more kills including 28 of 32 matches this season. On the weekend, Duchek recorded no hitting errors, while finishing with 27 kills on 54 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. Junior Danielle Skrajewski was next in line with seven kills and a .538 attack percentage to go along with eight digs. Freshman setter Jenn Welsh dished out 35 assists and was the only Musketeer in double-digit digs as she finished with 10. Sophomore Lauren Kowal came off the bench to provide three kills and a match-high five blocks with two solo blocks and three block assists. Junior Ashley Norris finished with eight digs and ended the weekend with 20 total digs.

Duchek ends her career as a Musketeer with 1,508 kills, which places her third all-time in Xavier history behind Hall of Fame member Sally Schulte (1,779) and Sara Bachus (1,598). She also stands in third place overall for attempts with 3,952. Classmate Jordan Brightwell also placed her own mark in the XU record books as the libero ended an outstanding career with 1,610 digs. She finishes in second place overall behind newly inducted Hall of Fame member Beth Osterday who is first with 1,728 career digs.

Five Musketeers set single-season marks in the Xavier record books. Welsh leaves her freshman season as the record holder for most assists in a season as the setter finished with 1,473 assists, passing Susie Checkett's mark by nine. She also stands in seventh place overall for assists in a career. Duchek broke into two more categories as the senior now ranks fifth for attempts in a season with 1,244 and ranks ninth for kills in a season with 471. Brightwell now has three top-ten marks for digs in a season, establishing the fourth place mark with 426 this season and holding the seventh and eighth marks as well. Junior Astyn Bjorklund fell right behind her mark from a season ago in hitting percentage in a season and set the sixth place record of .337. The final mark to be rewritten was block assists in a season as sophomore Jill Quayle moved into seventh place overall with 116 assists this year.

Head Coach Floyd Deaton now has 333 career wins in his 16 seasons at Xavier, including 123 A-10 coaching victories. Deaton has 234 more wins than any other coach in XU history as Carolyn Condit, who left Xavier with 99 career victories, stands in second place.

The Musketeers end the 2005 season with the most wins since the 2001 season and are only the seventh team in school history to record 10 or more conference wins. XU's 10-3 conference mark is the fifth best winning percentage in conference play since joining the A-10 in 1995.