LIVONIA, Mich. - Ryan Castle had a career day in helping lead the Madonna University volleyball team to a dominant sweep of a short-handed University of Michigan - Dearborn squad on Saturday afternoon inside the MU Activities Center. 

The Crusaders move to 19-7 on the year and 11-2 in the WHAC while the Wolverines slip to 3-19 overall and 2-11 in league play. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Madonna used just seven servers and allowed seven points in a 25-7 set one win. The Crusaders tallied five service aces in the opening game with three from Olivia Sweeney and two from Jordyn Dawson. 
• The Wolverines scored the first two points in set two, but it was all MU after that as Castle stepped to the service line and served eight consecutive points which included three aces and a kill from the Okemos native. Madonna added four more aces and Castle tallied four more kills en route to the 25-11 win.
• Jodie Kelly tallied the opening kill in set three, but the Wolverines put up a fight. That is until a Castle kill broke a tie at 4. Natasha Strzelewicz served for straight points with an ace and a Castle kill to push the lead to five, 9-4. UM-Dearborn kept the margin at four, 16-12, before a DJ Sargent kill sparked a 7-0 run as Betsy Cook served six points with an ace, a pair of block assists from Sargent, Brigitte Vanderham and Kelly and kills from the trio as well. A Castle kill ended the match, 25-13.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• -.062/.349: Madonna hit .349 in the win and held the Wolverines to a new opponent low this season, -.062 as they tallied just 15 kills in the match
• 14: The Crusaders finished with 14 aces, led by Sweeney's four and Castle's three
• .636: Castle hit a career-best .636 in the win with eight kills, three service aces and four digs
• 11: Kelly led MU with 11 kills and added two service aces, three blocks and three digs; Sweeney paced the backline with 11 digs

CRUSADER VISION

UP NEXT

• The Crusaders hit the road for their next two matches beginning on Wednesday, Oct. 23 when they travel to Grand Rapids to face Cornerstone University with first serve set for 7 p.m.
• Live coverage links will be available at www.mucrusaders.com. 

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