Box Score | Photo Gallery
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Looking to take sole possession of second place in the conference, Davenport ran into a fired up Madonna Crusaders team and found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat. The Lady Panthers will have the weekend off before facing rival Aquinas on Tuesday at 7:00pm.
Davenport and Madonna both entered their match on Thursday night with identical 5-1 records in league play but the MU offense was too much as the Crusaders left the Student Center with a convincing 25-18, 25-16, 25-17 win to stay one game behind WHAC leader and #15 Indiana Tech.
Set one started out exactly as Davenport had hoped as they hoped with a 3-1 run and followed it with a 6-3 run to force Madonna into a timeout. DU received kills from three different players led by Nicole Chase's (Caledonia, Mich.) two. The tide slowly began to turn however in the Crusaders favor as they would tie the set at 10-10 and then used a 7-0 run to put DU into a deep hole they would never dig out of, eventually falling 25-18.
DU again jumped out quick in the second set as Madonna had many unforced errors and the Lady Panthers held a 7-4 lead after an ace from junior Heather Deal (Ravenna, Mich.). The Crusaders hung tough and scored three straight points to tie the game and then used another big run in the middle of the set to take charge at 17-11.
DU committed five errors during the run and fell behind two sets to none 25-16. DU's offense and passing hurt them badly as they converted only six kills while piling up eight errors for a -.080 hitting percentage.
Looking to stay alive in the third set, DU came out with much more fire collecting the first three points with all blocks from Joyce Larioza (Fowlerville, Mich.) and Ashley Penny (New Hudson, Mich.). MU scored three of the next four but DU went back on top 5-4 on a kill from Nicole Chase (Caledonia, Mich.).
Unfortunately that would be their last lead of the match as the Crusaders offense then took over. Madonna finished the third set with 16 kills and hit at a .263 clip compared to only .118 for the Lady Panthers as MU finished the sweep 25-17.
Courtney DePriest (Grand Rapids, Mich.) filled the stat sheet on defense for Davenport as the junior finished with 17 digs while facing numerous attacks from the Crusaders. Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.) led the offense with five kills and Kayla Vandermolen (Cedar Springs, Mich.) posted 14 assists.
Davenport is now 13-7 overall as their four-match winning streak came to an abrupt halt. The Lady Panthers are also 5-2 in league action and will look to maintain their third place standing on Tuesday, October 5 when they face Aquinas College at 7:00pm.
