ADRIAN, Mich. - The Madonna University volleyball team started a new streak on Friday night inside the Siena Heights University Fieldhouse as they defeated the home team 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-22).

The win gives the Crusaders 10 wins on the year at 10-4 overall and an 8-4 mark in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play while the Saints fall to 7-4 overall and in league action. It's the fourth straight win for MU over Siena Heights and MU is 47-4 all-time. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
In what has become somewhat of a trend in the Crusaders' last four wins, the Blue and Gold dropped the opening set to the Saints. SHU won 11-of-15 points to begin the match and led by as many as nine before a late MU rally with kills from Ryan Castle, Cassidy Curtis, and a service ace from Jordyn Dawson cut the deficit to four, 23-19. But the home team won two of the next three points for the game won win. 

It took some time, but Madonna eventually asserted itself in the two. Down 13-12, Castle once again delivered a kill and served the next five points with an ace and three kills from Jodie Kelly pushing the MU lead to five, 18-13. The Saints cut the margin back to four, but MU won five of the final six points, highlighted by a pair of service aces from Betsy Cook. 

The Blue and Gold hit over .300 in the third set and dominated from start to finish in the 25-17 win. MU jumped out to a 14-7 lead with four kills and an ace from Kelly and never looked back en route to the 2-1 lead.

It was a tight fourth set that saw the team's tie several times and the home team had the lead late, 21-19. A Kelly kill cut the lead to one and Olivia Sweeney delivered an ace to tie the score. A pair of SHU errors and two kills from Kelly sealed the win. 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Kelly led the team with 28 kills and hit .369 to go with nine digs
• Castle finished with eight kills while Kacie Stoneburner added seven
• Emily Stewart paced the Crusaders at the net with four blocks
• Cook and Dawson tallied 22 and 26 assists, respectively
• Sweeney collected 20 digs

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
53-43 - MU had 10 more kills, 53-43, than the Saints and hit .197 (53-23-152) while SHU hit .109 (43-28-138).
8-6 - Madonna tallied eight service aces to six for the home team.

UP NEXT
Madonna has a quick turnaround as they look for revenge on Lourdes University on Saturday, March 13 at 7 p.m. inside the Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena. Home fans are permitted and tickets remain for students, faculty, and staff. Those that can't attend can watch the game online at www.mucrusaders.com/watch. 

CONNECT WITH THE CRUSADERS: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
SUBSCRIBE/DOWNLOAD TEAM SCHEDULES: Download Center
DOWNLOAD THE NEW MOBILE APP: Google Play | iOS