Sports
The Marquette Tribune
PAGE 16
Thursday, November 3, 2011
women’s volleyball
Road trip has potential for historic results
Photo by Aaron Ledesma/aaron.ledesma@marquette.edu
Sophomore libero Julie Jeziorowski feels the team is putting it all together.
Coach calls it the biggest regular season weekend By A.W. Herndon astead.herndon@marquette.edu
The Marquette women’s volleyball team (20-6, 10-0 Big East) will test its undefeated conference record this weekend with two difficult road matches against Cincinnati (18-8, 8-2)
on Saturday and Louisville (17-6, 9-1) Sunday. Those two teams, who are second and third respectively behind Marquette in Big East standings, have high-octane offenses that could challenge the Golden Eagles. The Cardinals lead the conference in both hitting percentage (.268) and kills per set (13.43), while the Bearcats are top three in both categories (.223 hitting percentage, 13.2 kills per set). Junior middle hitter Kelsey
Mattai knows that blocking will be critically important in beating their competitors, keeping Marquette atop the standings and securing a number one seed in the upcoming Big East Championship tournament. “There is a different energy in the gym this week,” Mattai said. “Collectively, we’re coming together and working hard. We’re really focusing on closing the block and pressing over.” Louisville boasts the Big East’s top hitter, junior outside hitter Lola Arslanbekova of Uzbekistan, who has 410 kills – 84 more than any other hitter, and averages five kills per set. Senior outside hitter Ciara Jones, Marquette’s top hitter and currently ranked third in the conference, averages 3.6 kills. “Louisville is a lot bigger, more physical style of play and Cincinnati is fast and explosive and has some really dynamic athletes,” coach Bond Shymansky said. “And so this is where we’re going to have to not only be tactically sound and be able to adjust and adapt, but we are going to have to be us.” This begins on the defensive end, where middle hitters must combine with the back row to not let any offensive threat, especially Arslanbekova, take over the game. “Our defensive specialist (assistant coach Michaela Franklin) helped us prepare for what Lola has to offer,” sophomore libero Julie Jezerowski said. “But we cannot be intimidated by her, and make sure our blocking and digs can take her out of the game.” According to Jezerowski, the growth of Marquette’s middle hitters has helped the team on the defensive end. She said that this recent trend, along with the team’s improvement in
Column
Writing history with ‘Mallace’ Erik Schmidt When Calum Mallace decided to score the game-winning goal in last week’s game against Pittsburgh, he had no idea what the consequences would be. Seriously, didn’t he realize how long it would take to rewrite all those history books? Year after year, page after page, the terribleness of Marquette men’s soccer was documented with shaky hand and grim resolve. We weren’t happy about writing the story this way. We didn’t want the team to wallow and suffer like Shaq at the free-throw line. Men’s soccer was the punch line, never the punch. When compared to the women’s team — they of an astounding three straight Big East championships — the men’s team was nothing. They were gum on the bottom of a shoe. Losing was their inescapable reality for so long, it was hard to imagine they’d ever
be relevant again. It’s funny how perceptions can change in an instant. One season, one game, one kick, and it all changed in a flash. Mallace, the lion-maned, silver-toed senior striker delivered the kick, a beautiful blow that was glory and redemption and restitution all in one. All those losing seasons are a hazy memory. The call for coach Louis Bennett’s resignation sounds like an April Fools’ gag. The agony and misery, the shutouts and heartbreak, long gone. See you later, don’t you ever come back. 2011 Big East Champs. Amazing. Bewildering. Confounding. How the heck did they do it? How did they go from footnote to front-page overnight? Luck? A miracle? Sold their souls to the Prince of Darkness? Nah. This success story begins and ends with Mallace, the elder statesman of the club who suffered through the lowest of lows, the 3-10-4 records, the lonely burden of carrying a team every night on his slight shoulders. He’s been the team’s best player for three seasons, since he led Marquette with 24 shots on goal his sophomore year, an
astounding 15 more than his nearest teammate. But at times, being the team’s greatest talent was like playing under a giant microscope. He got all the credit when they won. He got all the criticism when they lost. Unfortunately, the losses far exceeded the victories, and so the jabs and barbs floated around him for years, unrelenting and heavy. They said he shot too much. They said he wasn’t a team player. They said he’d never live up to his early promise. One season, one game, one kick. Mallace’s storied career was validated in an instant. The burden was lifted. Of course, Mallace had help. For the first time in his career as the leader of this team, he didn’t have to do it all. Junior goalkeeper David Check has been Fort Knox between the posts, nigh impenetrable, averaging only 1.19 goals against. Then there’s the man formerly known as James “Freshman Blur” C. Nortey, who leads the team with nine goals, six more than Mallace. He’s been the catalyst for a long dormant offense, the spark plug for a team long running on fumes. But I can’t help but think this See History, page 20
practice, allows her to be confident entering the weekend. No matter the opponent, the Golden Eagles rally around playing their own style of volleyball, which each player described as gritty and intense. “This is our biggest regular season Big East Conference weekend; our team is just excited about it,” Shymansky said. “We’re not overlooking Cincinnati to go play Louisville, they’re both equal caliber opponents … we have to stay focused on being Marquette and not get caught in somebody else’s system, rhythm or tempo.” His players echoed this sentiment, that if they stayed true to “Marquette volleyball,” the opponent is
relatively meaningless. “Our motto is ‘intensity leads to execution,’” Mattai said. “And (Marquette volleyball) is about intensity leading us to execute fast offense, and making sure to embody the Marquette spirit. Our chip on our shoulder originates from how humble we are.” Jezerowski explained it differently. “I guess the whole season has been figuring out what Marquette volleyball is. But now we’re putting everything together,” she said. “When we get our passes together, swings together, and defense (together) we’re an unstoppable team.”
While the lockout has been nothing less than torture for those who make a living off the NBA — namely players and workers — it has been a boon for college campuses around the country. You don’t have to look very far to see its impact. Anyone who attended Marquette Madness can attest to the coolness factor of having NBA stars back on campus. Who doesn’t like watching Wes Matthews and Jimmy Butler draining buckets? Oh yeah, that Dwyane Wade guy was OK, I guess. It doesn’t get much better than what happened at Oklahoma State University, however. NBA scoring machine and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant was sick and tired of being lazy at home and tweeted out, “This lockout is really boring..anybody playing flag football in Okc..I need to run
around or something!” George Overbay, a student at Oklahoma State, happened to have a flag football game that night and jokingly invited Durant to join him. Lo and behold, Durant responded with interest and ironed out details about where and when the game was. A few hours later, there was Durant towering over his competition, throwing for four touchdowns and picking off three passes, transforming another meaningless intramural game into one of the best of the year. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Twitter and the NBA lockout are a college kid’s best friends. On that note, I could really use some help at my bags playoff game next week. You busy @wessywes2? andrei.greska@marquette.edu
men’s soccer
First quarterfinal at home awaits Cardinals, Friars possible opponent for Golden Eagles
By Mike Nelson michael.e.nelson@marquette.edu
Hosting a Big East Championship quarterfinal game was a goal of the Marquette men’s soccer team (9-7-2, 6-2-0 Big East) all season. On Sunday, that goal will become a reality. The men will battle the No. 15/14 Louisville Cardinals (105-2, 3-4-2 Big East) or the No. 25/23 Providence Friars (106-1, 5-3-1 Big East), depending upon who wins tonight’s first round contest. As the fourth seed from the Red Division, Louisville hosts
the fifth-seeded Friars from the Blue Division. In addition to being ranked in the top-25, both teams are in the nation’s top-20 for RPI — ratings percentage index, used to judge a team by its strength of schedule relative to its wins and losses — with Louisville at 17 and Providence at 19. Marquette defeated the Friars 3-1 on Oct. 8, but the Golden Eagles did not play the Cardinals in 2011. Marquette last played Louisville on Sept. 27, 2009 and drew the Cardinals 2-2. The Cardinals lead the Big East in shots per game (18.94) and have allowed the second fewest goals per game (0.76). They also lead the Big East in See Awaits, page 17