LIVONIA, Mich. - The Madonna University volleyball team cruised through three of the four sets in a 3-1 (25-17, 25-14, 24-26, 25-14) win over Lourdes University inside the Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena on Saturday night. 

The Crusaders improved to 11-4 on the season, 9-4 in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play, and redeemed an earlier five-set loss to the Gray Wolves (3-10, 3-9 WHAC). The in also broke a tie in the all-time series with MU now leading 11-10. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Madonna cruised to a 10-4 lead, highlighted by a pair of emphatic Ryan Castle kills, before the Gray Wolves narrowed the lead to two with a four-point rally. A Kacie Stoneburner, DJ Sargent block sparked a 12-3 MU rally to take a 22-11 lead. Lourdes won 6-of-8 points to close the gap, but a Castle kill gave MU the 25-17 win.

Lourdes kept set two close early until Jodie Kelly stepped to the service line and served five straight points to push the MU lead to seven. Another four-point rally by the Crusaders, highlighted by a Katie Englehardt service ace and another Stoneburner, Sargent block, made it 16-6. The Gray Wolves got as close as seven, but the Blue and Gold won six of the final eight points, capped by a Kelly kill and service ace.

The Crusaders looked well on their way to a sweep in game three as they built a 21-14 lead, however, Lourdes won 10-of-11 and eight straight points to take a 24-22 lead. MU tied the game at 24 before the Sylvania, Ohio program sealed the 26-24 win.

Madonna came out with renewed urgency in the fourth game as they built a 14-5 lead. A pair of kills from Janelle Kwasiborski sparked a 5-0 rally and a block by Emily Stewart and Kelly highlighted another five-point run that led to the lead. Lourdes never scored more than two consecutive points the rest of the way as a kill from Stoneburner sealed the victory. 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Kelly led the team with 17 kills and added 17 digs and three block assists
• Castle finished with a career-high 11 kills
• Sargent tallied five blocks and added seven kills
• Kwasiborski hit a team-best .364 with six kills
• Betsy Cook and Jordyn Dawson each dished out 19 assists
• Olivia Sweeney collected 24 digs

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
.199-.048 - Madonna outhit Lourdes .199 (49-20-146) to .048 (38-30-166)
9 - The Blue and Gold tallied nine blocks in the win

UP NEXT
Due to a lack of practice time of the Wolverines, Tuesday's matchup with the University of Michigan-Dearborn has been postponed, so the Crusaders will have a week off before hosting Rochester College on Saturday, March 20 at 1 p.m. Tickets are available via passcode at www.mucrusaders.com/tickets. The game will also be live-streamed on the Madonna Athletics Network at www.mucrusaders.com/watch.  

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