(Left to right) Lesly Montes, Jacque Touchet, Nikki Barreda and Viviana Lozano react to Scorpions point on the court during win over Madonna University.
Scorpions Impressive in Victory over Madonna; Advance to Quarterfinals
Posted November 30, 2007
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Welcome to the Big Show.

The UTB/TSC Scorpions women's volleyball team played with emotion and power in a strong 3-1 victory over Madonna University in a first-round Championship Bracket match at the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship here Friday, November 30.

Like they did in their Pool Play victory over Lewis-Clark, the Scorpions came back after losing the first game of the match to win three straight. Madonna took the first game, 30-25, but the Scorpions won the next three, 30-28, 30-19, 32-30.

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NEXT MATCH: Scorpions vs. Fresno Pacific University, NAIA Quarterfinals,
4:45 p.m. Friday, November 30

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"We made too many mistakes in the first game, and we had to cut those out to have a chance against them," Scorpions head coach Marcus Young said. "Madonna is very disciplined and well-coached team. But as it turned out, we had too much firepower for them."

Talita Milasauskas, Claudia Alarcon, Katie Japp and Jenny Ashley all played big, with all four them getting in double figures in kills in the same match for the first time this season.

Milasauskas had her fifth triple-double of the season with 18 kills, 14 digs and 13 blocks, which was her season high. She had seven solo blocks and six assisted blocks.

Alarcon had 22 kills and 14 digs, Japp had 16 kills and 17 digs, and Ashley had 10 kills. Daianarah Bracero had 62 assists, and Viviana Lozano had 20 digs.

In the critical fourth game, the Scorpions were ahead 29-27 before Madonna scored three points in a row to take a 30-29 lead. However, Milasauskas had a kill to make it 30-30, had a block to make it 31-30, and Japp got the final kill of the match in the 32-30 victory.

Lubovj Tihomirova, a 6-2 junior from Riga Litvia, came into the match as the nation's second-leading player in kills per game with a 5.9 average. She had 18 kills to keep her average, but the Crusaders did not give her much support. Madonna had 29 attack errors and a hitting percentage of .187.

The Scorpions had a hitting percentage of .303, led by Milasauskas with .375 and Ashley with .368.

The Scorpions are now 36-8 for the season. They came into the tournament as the 12th seed, while Madonna, seeded 13th in the tournament, finished its season 35-11.

The tournament semifinals are scheduled Saturday morning and the championship match is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

All Scorpion matches will be audio webcast through the Scorpion Athletics website at http://athletics.utb.edu.