MILWAUKEE, Wis. (October 23, 2011) – Rutgers University volleyball took the first two sets, but dropped the next three to fall to first-place Marquette, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center. MU won by set scores of 22-25, 17-25, 25-11, 25-18 and 16-14.
“I think the difference was just one or two points in game five,” said head coach CJ Werneke after the match. “I thought our team played hard and executed well today. We let games three and four get away from us, but we responded and fought back in the fifth. I couldn’t be more proud of our team overall.”
The Scarlet Knights (8-17, 1-7 BIG EAST) came out of the gates on fire, taking the first two sets behind a consistent offensive attack (26 kills, 5 errors) and defensive effort (27 digs) to take a 2-0 advantage over the Golden Eagles.
However, Marquette (18-6, 8-0 BIG EAST) – the only undefeated team in the conference – rebounded to take the third set, 25-11, to get on the board.
Rutgers looked like it might seize the match in the fourth after taking a 7-1 advantage early on, but after a MU timeout at that point, the Golden Eagles went on a 21-5 run to steal back the momentum. Marquette would go on to force a fifth and deciding set. It was the fifth time this season RU had gone the distance in a match.
The deciding set went back-and-forth with each team taking 10 of the first 20 points. After MU took the next two points, Rutgers took a timeout and came back to win three of the next four to knot the set at 14.
The Golden Eagles were denied on match point at 14-13 on a Sheridan Taylor (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) cross-court kill, but MU won the next two rallies on kills to earn the victory.
Junior Alex Jones (Chesapeake, Va.) led Rutgers with a match-high 19 kills from her middle blocker position. She returned from injury on Friday against Syracuse, tallying 33 kills on the weekend after not playing since Sept. 3 at No. 5 Penn State.
“We are glad to have her back,” said Werneke. “We need to get her back in shape after missing six weeks, but having her back helps us offensively in addition to the leadership she brings on the court.”
Freshman Sofi Cucuz (Crown Point, Ind.) also netted 12 kills – the most she has had in a conference match.
After a tough match on Friday, the defense stepped up on Sunday to accumulate 64 digs compared to 54 from the hosts. Three Scarlet Knights picked up double-digit digs, including sophomore Brittany Bozzini (Saratoga, Calif.) (14), junior Stephanie Zielinski (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) (13) and senior Kallie Pence (College Station, Texas) (10).
“Our defensive intensity and approach was outstanding,” said Werneke. “We played better defense than Marquette in my opinion.”
Zielinski also recorded 42 assists on the day to notch her BIG EAST-leading 13th double-double of the season. It was the sixth time in the last eight matches she achieved the feat.
Taylor tied her career-high with four service aces on the afternoon. She also registered that many at USF on Oct. 21, 2010.
RU will return home next weekend, taking on Villanova (Oct. 28, 7 p.m.) and Georgetown (Oct. 30, 2 p.m.) at the College Ave Gym for two more BIG EAST contests.
For more information on the Rutgers volleyball team, please log on to ScarletKnights.com to find up-to-date news, stats and information. Also follow the program on Twitter at Twitter.com/RUvball and Facebook at Facebook.com/RutgersVolleyball.
