Volleyball Heads To Marquette For Saturday Contest
10/14/2005 9:10:52 AM | Volleyball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. The Orange begins a four-match road trip on Saturday, Oct. 15, when it heads to Milwaukee to take on the Golden Eagles of Marquette. SU is coming off of a pair of wins on Tuesday night against Buffalo and Cornell, including a five-game win against the Big Red.
SU Begins Four-Match Road Trip In Milwaukee
After defeating Buffalo and Cornell on Tuesday night, the Orange is on the road again this weekend when it heads to Wisconsin to face BIG EAST newcomer Marquette on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
The Series With Marquette
The two teams have met just twice before, in 1994 and 1997, with each squad winning a match. The Golden Eagles took the last meeting in 1997 in five games at the N.C. State Invitational. In the first all-time meeting in 1994, SU swept Marquette in Manley Field House. This is the first trop to the Badger State for Syracuse.
Scouting The Golden Eagles
Theresa Coughlin paces Marquette attack with 4.23 kills per game. She also digs 2.42 balls per game, which is third on the team. Kim Todd is behind Coughlin in kills with 215, a 3.12 average. Katie Weidner has totaled 728 assists, a 10.55 average. Jamie Mueller leads the team in digs with a 3.79 average.
Senior Leadership
SU returned five players from last year’s squad that won 25 matches, the most wins for an SU volleyball team since 1996. Aila Dommestrup (Ottawa, Ontario) paces the offense with her 11.27 assists per game. Kelly Duan (Baotou City, China) has compiled 302 kills, a 4.19 per game average. Kristen Conway (Bethlehem, Pa.) is second on the team in kills with 224. Katie Allen (Fenton, Mich.) has been strong on defense, as she leads the team in blocks with 72 while Kathryn Dercher (Weatherby Lake, Mo.) has played primarily as a defensive specialist. She has dug 149 balls, a 2.19 average.
Last Time Out
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange volleyball squad won both of its matches tonight by defeating Buffalo, 3-0 (36-34, 30-19, 30-27), and slipping by Cornell, 3-2 (30-21, 31-33, 30-24, 26-30, 15-11). Against Cornell, sophomore Joscie Kaup recorded a season-high 28 digs, which is one shy of her career best, while sophomore Jen Malcom tied her career high with 11 block assists. SU improves to 15-7 on the season.
Senior Kelly Duan led five SU players in double-digit kills with 18 against the Big Red while notching a career-high nine block assists. Senior Kristen Conway posted her second double-double of the night with 15 kills and 11 digs. Malcom added 12 kills to go along with her defensive effort, and senior Katie Allen and sophomore Cheryl Cobbina both contributed with 10 kills. Senior Aila Dommestrup dished out 62 assists, five short of her career high. Senior Kathryn Dercher notched 16 digs, two off of her career high.
In game one, SU jumped out to a 7-0 lead behind the serve of Dommestrup, and the Orange took it from there. The Big Red would close the gap to three points a few times, the last being at 21-18. Conway served three-consecutive points to give SU a 28-20 edge, and the Orange took game one 30-21.
SU went was up 16-12 midway through game two, before Cornell climbed back into the game and tied the game, 21-21, with a Joanna Weiss kill. A Thais Mirela kill and an SU miscue gave the Big Red a 23-21 advantage. Kaup bumped a ball deep into the vacated back corner for an SU point, and then Dercher notched her only service ace of the match to tie the game. The Orange was one point away at 29-27, but Rachel Adomat provided two kills to tie the game at 29-29. Cobbina struck right back with one of her kills, but Adomat had a response yet again, and deadlocked the game, 30-30. A block by Cornell and a Malcom kill made the game 31-31, but Weiss and Mirela put the game away with two more kills to tie the match, 1-1.
In game three, SU lost the first two points, but won the next five to take a three-point lead. The Orange would never relinquish that lead. The closest Cornell came was at 5-4 with another Adomat kill. SU kept a steady two-point advantage through the game, but a six-point run, capped by a Big Red attack error put SU up 27-17, and the Orange went on to win, 30-24.
Cornell and SU were tied in game four, 19-19, when a Weiss kill gave the Big Red the slight advantage. Cornell would not lose the lead again. An Adomat error tied the game, 24-24, but Heather Young responded with a kill and a service ace to put the Big Red up, 26-24. Cornell would force a fifth and final game with a 30-26 victory in game four.
In the decisive game, Syracuse took a timeout with the score 10-9 in its favor to try and stop a Big Red rally. Conway put down a kill on the following play, but Mirela responded with one of her own to make the score 11-10. Duan tallied another kill, and Cornell closed out the match with three attack errors to give SU its first five-game win this season.
For Cornell (10-3), Weiss had a match-best 19 kills. Adomat and Mirela both added 17 kills. Kelly Kramer had 30 digs for the Big Red, who were outblocked by SU, 17.5-7.0, in the match.
In the first match of the night against Buffalo, Duan paced the way with 14 kills while Conway added 11 kills and 11 digs. Dommestrup distributed 32 assists, and Kaup dug 16 balls.
The Orange used a 6-0 run in the first game behind the serve of Dommestrup to jump out to an early lead. SU stretched the lead to 12-2, before Buffalo began to climb its way back into the game. The Bulls steadily came back, and finally evened the game, 25-25, on a block by Brandie Clark and Lauren Burd. Another block by the same players on the very next play gave the Bulls its first lead of the night, 26-25. Buffalo would go up by as much as two at 29-27 with an SU attack error. A Sarah Steib service error and a Conway kill deadlocked the game, 29-29. The two teams traded points all the way to 34-34, before Dommestrup slipped a ball over the net to give SU a 35-34 lead. An attack error by the Bulls sealed the win in game one for the Orange.
SU scored the first four points of game two, and went up 7-1 with kills from Conway and Cobbina. SU would hold that lead, and even build on it as its largest lead came at 20-8. SU would eventually win the game, 30-19.
In game three, Buffalo led 15-9 midway through the game. The Orange fought back and tied the game, 17-17, with the help of a UB attack error. After the two teams traded kills, Malcom put down a ball from Dommestrup to give SU a 19-18 lead. The Orange would not lose the lead again, and ended up winning the final game, 30-27.
For the Bulls (8-12), Burd registered 10 kills and seven block assists. Clark totaled 11 digs and 11 block assists, while Streib posted 15 digs. Buffalo was held to a .040 hitting percentage.
For the two matches, Dommestrup averaged 11.75 assists with 94 on the night. Kaup totaled 44 digs, a 5.50 per game average, while Malcom had 14 blocks for a 2.00 per game average.
Duan Climbing Up Charts
Kelly Duan has been chasing several records at SU. Currently, she is in the top-10 in career kills and career attacks, and her 4.19 kills per game this season is second in a single season in history. Duan has also made a splash in the service aces department. She began the season eighth overall with 118 aces, and has moved up to third with 38 service aces this season. Duan was named to the Kent State Invitational All-Tournament Team earlier in the season. In 2004, Duan was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team and was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, the first in program history.
Conway Swinging At History
Kristen Conway is currently fourth all-time in attacks at SU with 3,729. In 2004, she set a new high in a single season for attacks per game with 10.08. Her 1,115 attacks was the third-highest total in a single season. Conway is also currently fourth in career kills. She was an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection in 2004.
Dommestrup Assisting Own Cause
Aila Dommestrup, another senior, is moving her way up the assists chart in 2005. This season, she became just the fourth player in SU history to eclipse the 3,000 assists mark. She currently stands in fourth place all-time. Also, her 9.33 assists per game average in her career is second only to Norreen Carroll (1998-01). Dommestrup was a All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention last season.
Kaup Digging Her Way To The Top
Sophomore Joscie Kaup (Ft. Recovery, Ohio), in just two seasons, has already staked a claim as one of the best defensive specialists SU has ever seen. In her freshman year, she posted 457 digs, fourth-best in a single season. This year, she is digging an average of 3.90 balls per game, which puts her in first place all-time for digs per game in a career.
Four Starters Almost Top Career Highs - Duan Does
In SU’s five-game win against Cornell, four Orange players almost tabbed new career bests. Senior Aila Dommestrup dished out 62 assists, five short of her career high. Senior Kathryn Dercher notched 16 digs, two off of her career high. Sophomore Joscie Kaup dug 28 balls, one short of her best in Orange. Sophomore Jen Malcom tallied 11 block assists to match her career high from a season ago. Senior Kelly Duan added a new career best with her nine block assists.
Cobbina Matches Career Best At West Virginia
Sophomore Cheryl Cobbina (Scarborough, Ontario) tied her career best with 15 kills while leading the Orange to a 3-0 sweep of the Mountaineers. She also notched 15 kills against Boston College in 2004.
Duan Earns Second Honor In As Many Weeks
Last week, Senior Kelly Duan earned her second-consecutive BIG EAST honor, as she was named to the Honor Roll again. In the five-game loss to Siena, Duan registered 17 kills and 10 digs for her third double-double of the season. She was also the only player in that game for SU in double-digit kills. Against No. 10 Notre Dame, Duan again had 14 kills. Finally, in the 3-1 win against DePaul, she put together 19 kills and six block assists. For the week, Duan averaged 4.17 kills and 1.25 blocks per game.
Duan was also named to the conference’s honor roll for the week of Sept. 26 for her performances last week against Colgate, Georgetown, and South Florida. Against, Georgetown, Duan had match-highs in kills (16) and digs (19). For the week, she averaged 4.12 kills and 4.25 digs per game. She also had five service aces and two block assists.
Allen Is BIG In Conference
Senior Katie Allen set two more career-highs in the 3-1 win against DePaul. She had 11 block assists and a .647 hitting percentage, which topped her old career-best (.583) which she set earlier in the year. She also set a new career-high in kills with 15 against Georgetown.
Currently, Allen ranks second in the conference in hitting percentage (.365), and first in conference games (.540).
Kern Sets Career Highs Against Siena
Freshman Brittany Kern (Indianapolis, Ind.) set three new career highs in the 3-2 loss against Siena on Sept. 28. Her eight kills tied her career high, while her two solo blocks and five block assists set new highs.
Conway Sets Season-High vs. South Florida
Senior Kristen Conway paced the Orange to a 3-0 sweep of the Bulls on Sept. 25. In the match, Conway compiled 18 kills, her season best, on 33 swings. She only had one error, good enough for a .515 hitting percentage.
Dommestrup Named Scholar-Athlete Of The Week
Senior Aila Dommestrup was honored as the SU Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the week of Sept. 19. She has been named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll four times and has been a BIG EAST Academic All-Star twice.
Quigley Sets Career-High
Redshirt freshman April Quigley (Warwick, N.Y.) had her first-career start against Delaware State in the HIlton Albuquerque Volleyball Classic. She made the most of it, totaling 31 assists in a 3-0 sweep of the Hornets.
Venue Change
The Orange volleyball team will now call Manley Field House its home court. However, two matches will be played in the Women’s Building this year (Oct. 28 vs. Rutgers and Oct. 30 vs. Villanova).
SU Impressive At Manley
The Orange has enjoyed great success when playing in Manley Field House. All-time, SU has an 85-35 (.708) mark in Manley, including a 23-14 (.621) record in BIG EAST matches held at Manley. SU won 13-consecutive matches in Manley from 1994-1996, and had an overall record of 24-2 between 1994-1997.
