JMU Volleyball Outlasts North Dakota In Five-Set Thriller

Saturday, August 27

Green Bay, Wisc.

James Madison University

0-2

North Dakota

2-0

James Madison

Dayton

JMU Volleyball Outlasts North Dakota In Five-Set Thriller

8/28/2011 12:59:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

GREEN BAY, Wisc., August 27, 2011 – James Madison volleyball collected its most blocks since 2007, including seven each from a trio of underclassmen, to outlast North Dakota 3-2 in the final game of the Country Inn and Suites Volleyball Classic on Saturday.

JMU won by set scores of 25-15, 21-25, 16-25, 25-17 and 24-22 in the five-set thriller. The Dukes finished the season-opening tournament at 1-2 while dropping North Dakota to 1-2 on the season.

JMU collected 16 blocks, its most since Nov. 9, 2007 against Hofstra. Sophomore middle blocker Kelly Maguire (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central), redshirt freshman setter Kristi Richardson (Glen Allen, Va./Hermitage) and freshman outside hitter Lizzy Briones (Siloam Springs, Ark./Siloam Springs) each had a solo block and six block assists to collect a career-high seven blocks.

Maguire added 11 kills on .200 hitting to collect her second career double-digit kill game. Redshirt junior outside hitter Natalie Abel (Washington, Pa./Trinity) added her second double-double this season with a team-high 12 kills and 14 digs while sophomore Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) recorded her 25th career double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs. Richardson added 23 assists, six kills and two digs to her career-high seven blocks. Senior Holly Wall (Kaukauna, Wisc./Kaukauna) started at libero and collected a team-high 21 digs.

Annika Smed led all players with 13 kills, adding 12 digs and five blocks to pace North Dakota. Devin Trefz chipped in 12 kills, five blocks and three aces to tie Smed with a team-best 17.5 points. Lisa Parlich added a match-high eight blocks and seven kills while Erica Turner had 26 digs. Nikki Husfeldt collected a double-double with 35 assists and 12 digs.

The Sioux outhit JMU .076 to .074 and held an 18.5 to 16 advantage in blocks, but gave away 15 points on service errors as opposed to just six aces. The Dukes collected six aces and had a 54 to 48 advantage in kills.

Madison ran out to a 7-3 lead in the first set before UND battled back to even the score at 11-11. From there, the Dukes closed the set on a 14-4 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match. JMU got three kills and four blocks from Richardson as they cruised to the easy win.

In set two, JMU again took the early advantage with a 7-4 run to open up the set. A 4-0 response from the Sioux gave them their first lead of the match at 8-7 and forced a Madison timeout. The teams battled back and forth until, with the score tied at 19-19, UND