Box Score

LIVONIA, Mich.- The #22 ranked Crusaders were too much for the the Lady Panthers on Tuesday night as they defeated Davenport 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-18). The loss drops DU to 17-11 on the year and 7-6 in league action.  Davenport will host Concordia on Thursday in the final regular season home match at 7:00pm.

Madonna, who moved back into the Top-25 this week at #22 took the match in straight sets and kept their hold on the top spot in the conference standings.

Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.) finished with a team high 10 kills and Ashley Penny (New Hudson, Mich.) posted six terminations on just 17 attempts but it was not enough for the Lady Panthers (17-12, 7-6 WHAC) to post an upset of the host Crusaders.

Madonna (22-6, 12-1) jumped out to a fast lead in the opening set at 6-1 and eventually raised to 11-3 forcing coach Garner into a timeout.  The lead grew to as many as nine in the opening set but once MU got to 23, things started to click for the Lady Panthers as they scored five straight points to decrease the lead to just two at 23-21. 

Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.) collected two kills during the run and Nicole Chase (Caledonia, Mich.) combined with Kayla Vandermolen (Cedar Springs, Mich.) for a huge block at 23-20.  The late rally was not enough though as MU escaped with the four point win 25-21.

Davenport then used their late momentum gained from the opening set to start fast in the second as the Lady Panthers scored the first three points and eight of the first 11.  DU picked up kills from Graves, Vandermolen, Ashley Penny (New Hudson, Mich.) and Chase along the way.  MU responded with a run of their own to bring the score to just 10-9, but DU would eventually hold on to the lead until the Crusaders went up 19-18. 

After a sideout by DU, Madonna then scored six of the final eight points of the set for the 25-21 come from behind win.

Having used up much of their energy in the second set, DU struggled to get any rythym in the third as Madonna posted the 25-18 win.

Davenport will now host Concordia University on Thursday at 7:00pm at the Student Center.  The match will be the last home regular season one for seniors Kayla Vandermolen (Cedar Springs, Mich.), Sami Hausmann (Marne, Mich.), Joyce Larioza (Fowlerville, Mich.) and Yurika Toyodome (Tokyo, Japan).