Marquette made the most of their first ever NCAA Volleyball Championship appearance and double-dipped into the bag of historical achievements: Coach Bond Shymansky's squad not only won their first ever NCAA Championship match, but they also recorded the first victory over a ranked opponent in program history as well, defeating the #24 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 26-24, 25-23).
Marquette got things started on a hot streak, posting what would be their best hitting percentage of the match at .406, but ultimately only squeaked by WKU in the first set, as the Hilltoppers had their best hitting of the match at .387. Both teams followed up that outstanding performance with their worst hitting performance of the match. WKU would keep their hitting above .100 while both teams committed 8 errors to allow WKU to tie the match at 1.
WKU took a 14-11 lead to start the third, but Marquette rallied with an Ashley Beyer kill to tie and a Danielle Carlson kill to take a 15-14 lead, where Marquette would be able to hold on and take a 2-1 advantage.
The 4th set was a close affair as well, until Rachel Stier served with a 24-23 advantage and the match on the line:
Ciara Jones led Marquette in kills with 17, while Beyer chipped in 15 and 8 digs.
With the win, Marquette moves on to the second round where they will take on NCAA 3 seed Illinois, who advanced by sweeping MAC Tournament Champion Central Michigan. The match will start at 7pm at Huff Hall at the University of Illinois.