DEARBORN, Mich. - The Madonna University volleyball team completed the University of Michigan-Dearborn Early Bird Classic with a perfect 4-0 record as they swept Bryan College in the morning and survived five sets with the University of Saint Francis (Ill.) in the evening. 

In total, the Crusaders (6-2) won their four matches in 14 sets as they swept three matches before the thriller with the Fighting Saints (2-2) on Saturday evening. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Match 1 vs. Bryan

• The Crusaders dominated the Lions (1-2) from the start as the Blue and Gold won six of the first seven and 18-of-23 to take a commanding 18-5 lead. While Bryan tried to make a run, MU was able to thwart each attempt and Luisa Wiewgorra sealed the 25-13 win with a kill.
• Game two saw more of the same as the Crusaders charged out to another large lead, 16-8, weathered a BC run and won six of the final seven points, which included a pair of kills from Jodie Kelly and Ryleigh Jacobs, to take the set 25-16.
• Madonna proved it could win from ahead or behind in the third set as sloppy play led to a 6-1 lead for Bryan before three kills from Kelly and four service points from Olivia Sweeney tied the game. The teams played even until a BC service error broke a tie at 19 and the Lions made two more miscues and Karolina Noszczyk tallied another service ace for a 23-19 advantage en route to the 25-20 win.

Match 2 vs. St. Francis

• Madonna built an early lead in set one, 13-7, but a 12-2 run by USF put them in front and the Fighting Saints did just enough to hang on for the 25-22 win.
• The Blue and Gold answered with a 12-2 run in set two to take a 12-4 lead then won seven of the final eight points, which included six straight, for the 25-13 win.
• St. Francis took game three 25-23, but it was MU who built momentum in set four as they won the final three points on a pair of aces from Koszczyk and an Erica LaBaere kill for the 25-19 win. 
• After the teams traded side-outs to tie at three in set five, the Crusaders flexed their muscle and scored seven straight and 12-of-13 points to seal the match win, 15-4. Sweeney and Betsy Cook served the final 10 MU points and a pair of block assists by Noszczyk and DJ Sargent as well as a Sargent kill finalized the win. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• 43/16/.429  - Cook had an incredible match against St. Francis as she tallied 43 assists, 16 digs and hit .429, all team-highs
• 15x2 - Kelly and LaBaere each tallied 15 kills in the win over the Fighting Saints
• 20 - Sweeney tallied 20 digs in the win over Bryan
• .039/.124  - Those are the percentages the opponents hit today, Bryan finished at .039 while USF hit just .124
• 14 - Madonna finished the day with 14 blocks, led by Sargent who had a hand in 10 of the blocks as she tallied two solo and eight block assists on the day

UP NEXT
Madonna will have two weeks off before they open the 2019 home slate with the Julie Martin Memorial Classic on Sept. 6-7 at the MU Activities Center. Six teams will visit Madonna over the two days to take part in the annual classic which begins on Friday, Sept. 6 at 3 p.m. as the Crusaders host Indiana University South Bend. Live coverage will be available via the Madonna Athletics Network at www.mucrusaders.com/live with complete tournament coverage here: https://mucrusaders.com/feature/2019JulieMartinClassic

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