The UConn volleyball team split its two tilts this weekend against Marquette University and the University of Syracuse at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion to improve to 11-10 (4-2) on the season.
This past Friday, the UConn squad hosted the Golden Eagles of Marquette and dropped the first set before taking the next three enroute to a 3-1 victory over the Golden Eagles.
"We made a lot of unforced errors in game one and I told the team that [Marquette] is in the game because we were essentially giving points away," said head coach Holly Strauss-O'Brien. "That was the good news. We just had to further execute our game plan and focus on small runs."
Friday marked the second time this season that four UConn players finished with double-digit kills. Junior Rebecca Murray had 15 kills while amassing a career-high 16 digs. Senior Chauntay Mickens led the team with 16 kills. The other two Huskies to finish the game with double figures in kills were sophomore Jordan Kirk and freshman Mattison Quayle.
"It was one of our goals in the match to get everyone involved offensively," Strauss-O'Brien said. "Our evenly distributed offense against Marquette can be attributed to great passing in serve receive and with [Samantha Arriaran] running a good, smart offense."
Senior Jessica Isaac led the Huskies' charge, with 20 digs against Marquette. UConn has won the last three meetings with the Golden Eagles, with the all-time series knotted up at three games apiece.
Riding high off of its Marquette win, the Huskies welcomed the Syracuse Orange to Gampel in hopes of extending their winning streak to five straight. Yet, the Huskies were stopped in their tracks as the Orange defeated UConn 3-1 to deprive the Huskies of a weekend sweep.
Prior to the match, Isaac was acknowledged for becoming the all-time UConn leader in digs. But unfortunately for Isaac, that's all the celebrating she and the Huskies would do on Sunday, as Syracuse (16-5, 5-1) maintained consistent control of the contest.
"Syracuse blocked the ball. It was a great match and we had a ton of digs, served tough and terminated the ball," Strauss-O'Brien said. "The problem we encountered was stopping their middles. We just didn't finish."
The Orange recorded 16 total blocks on Sunday, led by Sarah Morton who registered 11 of her own. Morton also recorded a match-high 17 kills as Syracuse won the last two sets after splitting the first two.
UConn looks to shake off the Syracuse loss as the volleyball team heads to Fairfield to kick off a three-game road trip before returning to Connecticut on Oct. 30.
"I think our team is ready to unload on Fairfield," Strauss-O'Brien said. "We are on the road for the next few weeks and I look forward to seeing the fire come back and catch momentum going into our conference match-up with Villanova."
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