No. 20 Taylor Knocks Off No. 18 Madonna
October 23, 2009
The No. 20 Taylor volleyball team used a career high 33 kills from Kelsey Pritchard Friday night to overcome a two set deficit as they knocked off 18th-ranked Madonna (Mich.) by a final score of 3-2 (19-25, 24-26, 25-17, 29-27, 15-10) at the Crusader Classic in Livonia, Mich.
Pritchard dominated the front row of the Crusaders, who had no answer for the sophomore outside hitter. An Indianapolis native, Pritchard's 33 kills came on 60 swings for a .467 hitting percentage.
With the win, Taylor improves to 24-4, while Madonna falls to 28-4. For the Trojans, it was their first victory over the Crusaders since 2001.
Taylor has now registered two straight road wins over Top 20 opponents in the last seven days. The Trojans defeated then-No. 15 Indiana Tech last Friday in a 3-0 sweep.
Taylor sophomore setter Betsy Brown recorded her sixth double-double of the season by dishing out 58 assists and collecting ten digs. Courtney Herschberger had a new career high with four aces, while also leading the Trojans with 22 digs.
Mary McGinnis led Madonna with 23 kills. Liz Dempsey posted 19 kills to go along with 21 digs for her fourth straight double-double. Inta Grinvalds passed out a season high 63 assists.
Taylor totaled 69 kills and a .281 attack percentage, while the Crusaders posted 72 kills for a .195 attack percentage. Madonna outdug Taylor 80-74, but the Trojans had nine total blocks to MU's five.
The first set was close early, but after Dempsey's fourth kill made the score 17-17, Madonna went on an 8-2 run for a 25-19 opening set win.
The next set saw both teams battle throughout with 12 ties and seven lead changes. Jackie Geile's fourth kill of the set gave Taylor a 24-23 lead, but a block by Katie Czarnecki sandwiched between two McGinnis kills gave Madonna a 26-24 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Paced by eight kills from Pritchard in the third set, Taylor overcame an early deficit to gradually pull away from the Crusaders to build a 23-13 lead. The Trojans nearly doubled Madonna's eight kills to post 15 of their own for a .312 hitting percentage compared to .111 for MU. Taylor stayed alive with a 25-17 win.
Taylor trailed the entire fourth set until equalizing the match at 22-22 following a Madonna hitting error. The two sides traded points until Taylor went up 25-24 on an ace from Herschberger. After tie scores at 26 and 27, Geile took matters into her own hands with a kill and a block to close out the set at 29-27 with the match tied at 2-2.
In the final set Taylor built an early 6-1 lead that they would not relinquish. The Trojan offense committed just one error to hit at a clip of .421 in the finale. A kill from Rachel Kizer sealed the match for Taylor with a 15-10 victory.
Taylor returns to action at the Crusader Classic Saturday morning at 9:30 against Embry-Riddle (Fla.).