Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
Temple
Xavier Volleyball Falls in A-10 Semifinals
11.18.05 | Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2005
KINGSTON, R.I. - In the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament hosted by the University of Rhode Island, third-seeded Xavier fell to second-seeded Temple 3-1. The Musketeers were defeated by scores of 22-30, 30-14, 30-20 and 30-27. XU falls to 19-11 on the season, while Temple improves to 22-9 and will face Dayton in the finals tomorrow evening at Keaney Gymnasium for the A-10 Championship.
Xavier had four players post four or more kills in the opening stanza and used a 4-0 spurt with the score 11-10 to increase its lead to 15-10 before cruising to the win. A kill by Jill Quayle put XU up for good at 11-9 as the sophomore finished with a team-high six kills on the game.
Both teams played even at the start of game two before Temple mounted a 6-0 run to push its advantage to 11-4. After a back and forth series, the Owls put together another 7-0 run and stretched the lead to 15 points at 23-8. The Musketeers could only muster six kills in the game with Danielle Skrajewski earning three of the six.
The third game saw five ties and four lead changes occur within the first 13 points before Temple grabbed the lead for good at 7-6. Xavier would not come any closer as the Owls stretched the lead to 10 at 25-15 before finally earning the win. Kate Duchek had four kills in the game.
After XU scored the first point of game four, Temple would rattle off the next five to take the early 5-1 advantage. An ace by Duchek evened the score at 5-5 before a TU hitting error gave the Musketeers capped a 6-0 and grabbed the lead back at 7-5. After XU claimed its largest lead of five at the 19-14 mark, Temple put a 4-0 run together to climb within two at 20-18. The Owls would then tie the score at 24-24 before a Duchek kill gave Xavier the lead back. TU claimed its first lead since 5-4 at the 26-25 mark and would claim four of the next six points to take the game and match.
Quayle led the Musketeers with a team-high 16 kills and finished with a .375 hitting percentage and two solo blocks. Senior Jordan Brightwell finished with a match-high 22 digs, while Skrajewski ended with 14 digs and 10 kills for her 15th double-double of the season. Freshman Jenn Welsh dished out 41 assists on the match and also added 10 digs. Duchek and Bjorklund rounded out the Musketeers with double-digit kills posting 11 and 10, respectively.
With the loss, XU is now 14-15 all-time against the Owls and 3-4 in Atlantic 10 Tournament play. Xavier is now 4-7 overall in A-10 Tournament play and has advanced to the last seven-straight tournaments. The Musketeers are now 15-2 on the season and 6-1 in conference play when winning the first game and now stand at 8-3 in four-game matches.
Xavier will finish out the 2005 schedule next weekend in Dayton for the A-10/MAC Challenge. The Musketeers are slated to play Miami (Oh) on Friday, followed by Kent State on Saturday.
