Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
#16 Tennessee<br>(Mortar Board Premiere)
Quayle Establishes New Career High in Loss
09.16.05 | Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - In the first ever meeting between the two schools, Xavier battled No. 16 Tennessee to the end falling 3-1 by scores of 26-30, 12-30, 30-22 and 22-30. The match was the opening session for the Mortar Board Premiere tournament hosted by Purdue University.
The opening game found the score going back and forth with neither team claiming a big lead until Tennessee grabbed a 24-20 advantage. Xavier responded and closed the gap to 26-25 but a quick 4-1 spurt by UT put an end to the XU rally. Sophomore Jill Quayle paced the Musketeers in the game with five kills on nine swings and had two block assists as well. Xavier could not respond to a .342 hitting percentage by the Lady Vols but kept pace with 17 kills compared to 19 by UT.
With the score 10-5 in favor of Tennessee, the Lady Vols rattled off a 11-2 run to put game two completely out of reach for the Musketeers. XU started off the game with a quick 3-1 advantage after Quayle knocked down two of her five kills in the game. Once again, Tennessee used a powerful presence at the net finishing the game with a .400 hitting percentage and a 20-9 advantage in the kill department.
A lineup change that found three new faces on the court for the Musketeers provided a huge spark in the third contest as Xavier claimed the early 15-5 advantage. Astyn Bjorklund notched four kills over that span and Xavier took advantage of five early hitting errors by the Lady Vols. XU took its largest lead of the game at 19-8 after a kill by Kate Duchek and expanded it to 26-14 after Laci Hasenour earned one of her two kills on the game. Xavier finally controlled the net ending the game with a .462 hitting percentage and 20 kills compared to only a .152 percentage and 15 kills for the Lady Vols.
The Musketeers carried the momentum into game four and grabbed the early 5-0 lead. Tennessee would respond and eventually pull ahead 9-8 on an ace but a kill by Hasenour followed by a UT hitting error would put the Musketeers back in the lead at 10-9. Six ties and six lead changes would ensue and Tennessee finally emerged with the score 25-20 to eventually claim the game and match.
XU was led by sophomore Quayle who had a career-high 17 kills to go along with eight block assists. Duchek also had double digit kills in the match as the senior ended with 17 as well, which marks the sixth time out of the last seven matches she has registered double digit kills. Classmate Laci Hasenour ended the night with five kills, a .364 hitting percentage and five digs. Sophomore Jenni Horvath led the Xavier backline with 11 digs and setter Jenn Welsh dished out 54 assists.
Xavier is now 6-3 on the season, while Tennessee moves to 6-1. The Musketeers are now 0-2 against Top 25 teams this season and will return to the court tomorrow morning to take on Purdue at 11:00 am ET and Ohio at 6:00 pm ET.
After the match, three Musketeers were honored by Mortar Board for their outstanding academic and community service achievements. From Xavier, seniors Kate Duchek, Jordan Brightwell and Laci Hasenour were honored by the Purdue chapter of the nationally-known honor society.
