Taylor Suurmeyer attacks a ball in the Crusaders WHAC Semifinal loss to Cornerstone
Cornerstone Sports Info
1
Madonna MUVB 23-12
3
Winner Cornerstone CSVB 29-9
Madonna MUVB
23-12
1
Final
3
Cornerstone CSVB
29-9
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Madonna MUVB 25 20 19 22 (1)
Cornerstone CSVB 19 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Zachary Shore

@MUCrusadersVB season ends in WHAC Semifinals

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.– The sixth-seeded Madonna University volleyball team saw the 2018 season come to an end with a 3-1 loss to second-seeded Cornerstone University in the semifinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament at the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center on the campus of Aquinas College on Friday night.

The Crusaders end the season 23-12 while the Golden Eagles improved to 29-9 on the year and punched a ticket to the NAIA National Tournament. With the loss, the Blue and Gold say goodbye to four seniors, Nicole Chestnut, Amber Kelly, Lauren Korth and Taylor Suurmeyer.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Madonna won the opening set thanks to a trio of four-point runs and five of the final six points for the 25-19 win. Down 8-7, MU scored four straight on miscues by Cornerstone, then up one, 11-10, A Ryan Castle kill, two most Golden Eagle errors and a Jodie Kelly service ace made it 15-10. Three straight Kelly kills, a Korth ace and a CU error gave the Blue and Gold set point before Castle finished the set with a termination.

  • Madonna trailed for the majority of the second set until a pair of Erica LaBaere kills turned a 17-16 deficit into an 18-17 lead, however, Cornerstone won the next five points and six of the final seven for the 25-20 win to even the match.

  • It was a great start to the third game as Madonna jumped out to a 4-0 lead and won five of the first six points before the Golden Eagles scored the next five to lead 6-5. After the teams traded points, MU seemed to take control as Kelly registered a kill, Nyla Greer tallied a block to tie the game at 18 and an error gave MU the 19-18 win. Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles again ran away at the end with seven straight points for the 25-19 win.

  • With their season on the line, the Crusaders raced out to a 15-8 lead and, after CU climbed back into the game, Madonna pushed the lead to 18-13, but that's when the Golden Eagles snatched momentum with 7-of-8 points to take a 201-19 lead. The teams traded side-outs before Cornerstone won the final three points to win the match, 25-22.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

  • Kelly and Suurmeyer paced the offense with 16 kills and hit .244 and .216, respectively

  • Olivia Sweeney led the team with 13 digs while Korth and Kelly each added seven

  • Korth tallied 41 assists and finished her career with 4,488 career assists, fifth most in program history to go with 1,077 digs and 407 kills

  • Suurmeyer finishes her four years with 624 career kills and 184 blocks

JERRY'S WORLD

  • "We started very fast and played with a sense of urgency tonight. We played some of the best volleyball we have all season. I felt we kept that pace for much of the match, but just could not put them away when we had the chance. To Cornerstone's credit they responded in the most pressure packed parts of the match. We played right with them both offensively and defensively, but we weren't able to pull it out." - Head Coach Jerry Abraham on the loss

  • "Our season started out fast, we made some adjustments to some ups and downs midway through, but I felt we kept getting better and played our best at the end of the year. It's always disappointing to not make nationals, but I'm very proud of this team - the future is bright. A special thank you to our four seniors who have been special leaders, they will be missed. - Abraham on the season

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