Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
Central Michigan
Xavier Snaps Slide with Win Over Central Michigan
09.20.05 | Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2005
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. - The Xavier volleyball team ended its 12-match road trip to open the season with a win over Central Michigan on Tuesday night at Rose Arena. The Musketeers took the match with scores of 30-24, 30-28, 27-30 and 30-22. The win snaps XU's four game slide and puts them in good position entering into the Atlantic 10 opener this weekend.
Game one started out slow for the Musketeers but with the score 21-17 in favor of CMU, Danielle Skrajewski served three straight aces to pull XU back within one point at 21-20. Two miscues by the Chippewas and another kill by Skrajewski gave Xavier the lead at 23-21. Senior Kate Duchek would serve the last five straight points to close out the game for XU.
XU jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the second game but a 6-0 run by Central Michigan found the Musketeers down 9-6 after the spurt. CMU ran another six-point streak with the score 12-11 in favor of the maroon and white, which made the score 18-11 in favor of the home team. Xavier would answer with a 5-1 run to cut the lead to 20-17 after a kill by Duchek. An ace by Astyn Bjorklund finally knotted the score at 21-21 and a back and forth battle ensued. Not until the score was tied at 28-28 did Xavier grab the advantage making it 29-28 when a Chippewa service error ended the game.
Central started the third game with a 7-2 advantage and carried it to a 20-10 lead before Xavier finally retaliated. The Musketeers would start trading points and finally cut the Chippewa lead to two at 28-26. However, a tough CMU defense would not allow Xavier to get back into the game as Central took game three.
The fourth and final game saw XU jump out early and never look back. With the score 10-7 in favor of the blue and white, Xavier traded two points for one and went up 18-11 en route to claiming the game and the match.
The Musketeers were led by Duchek who recorded a season-high24 kills and a .360 hitting percentage. With her performance tonight, she moved into 10th place all-time in XU history for kills in a career and now stands at 1,190. Three other Musketeers tallied double digit kills with Bjorklund, Skrajewski and Jill Quayle each having 15, 14 and 10, respectively. Jenn Welsh set a new career-high with 22 digs on the match and dished out another career-high 65 assists, while Jordan Brightwell also tallied 22 digs. Skrajewski and Carley Horvath each had three aces on the match.
Xavier, now 7-5 on the season, will return to action this Friday against George Washington at 7:00 pm. This will be the home opener as well as the Atlantic 10 opener for the Musketeers. XU will follow up Friday night's match by taking on first-year member Charlotte on Saturday night starting at 7:00 pm in Cintas Center.
