Wolves Claim Win Over Statemen
Strong play helps Stritch start strong in 2010 Wolves Weekend Invitational
David Snieg, Director of Sports Information
9/3/2010 8:14:49 PM
Jessica Shaver notched 11 kills as the Wolves defeated the Statesmen 3-1 Friday
Milwaukee, Wis. - The Cardinal Stritch University Wolves women's volleyball team looked for a strong start as they host the 2010 Wolves Weekend Invitational. The Wolves were successful in getting off on the right foot as they claimed a 3-1 tournament-opening win against the William Penn University Statesmen.
Friday's match marked the second time the two teams have face each other this year with William Penn having defeated the Wolves 3-2 back on Aug. 28.
In game one, Stritch fell into a quick 3-1 hole and would remain a point behind until Shannon Petrack (Winneconne, Wis.) took a set from Kate Osowiec (Chicago, Ill.) and turned into a game-tying kill at 6-6. The Wolves would follow with a kill by Alyssa Ahmad (St. Francis, Wis.) and eventually claim an 11-7 lead.
With the Statesmen eventually closing the gap to 11-10, Ahmad and Jessica Shaver (West Allis, Wis.) would tally three straight kills to claim a 14-11 lead. WPU would stay with the Wolves, however, eventually claiming a lead back with the score at 19-18 courtesy of an attack error by Ahmad.
However, Stritch wouldn’t be held down as they ended the game on a 6-3 run to seal the 25-22 win.
The Wolves would kick things into gear in the second set as they would start the match on an 8-4 run. Ashley Wipperfurth (Sauk City, Wis.) and Jessica Shaver would combine for nine kills and lead Stritch to a quick 25-20 win over the Statemen.
Down 2-0 in the game though, William Penn University would come back strong. The Statemen would start game three by scoring 11 points against the Wolves’ four points. Paige Echimovich (O’Fallon, Mo.) would total six kills to drop Stritch by a final of 25-18 and pulling the match to 2-1.
Despite the defeat in set three, the Wolves made sure to come through in the crunch as Stritch would claim a 25-23 win in the final set to claim the match 3-1.
During the match, four Stritch players would combine to total 49 kills with Wipperfurth leading the way with a match-high 17 kills. Osowiec and Jacqui Zintak (Evergreen Park, Ill.) would combine to set up the offense with 52 assists between the two of them.
The win helps the Wolves improve to 2-4 in the early part of the 2010 season. Stritch will play their second match of the day against Huntington University. The final match of day one of the 2010 Wolves Weekend Invitational between the Wolves and Foresters is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start time.