:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47099050/usa-today-8317223.0.jpg)
On Friday evening, Marquette Volleyball suffered a 3-2 (20-25, 23-25, 28-26, 25-16, 12-15) loss to Oral Roberts for their first loss of the 2015 season.
It's an incredibly disappointing loss for the Golden Eagles, as they swept a #21 ranked Iowa State team in their most recent outing. MU came out flat in the first two sets against ORU, hitting just .220 with six errors in the first frame followed by an even worse .171 with eight errors in the second. Even with that lackluster hitting, Marquette was still competitive in both sets, losing by five in the first and the minimum two points in the second. In fact, MU actually led 23-22 in the second frame, but the Golden Eagles handed ORU the final two points of the set due to attack errors.
After intermission, Marquette came out on fire. They hit .323 in the third set and a whopping .400 in the fourth. The third set was back and forth, though, as MU had to rally from a 14-9 hole midway through the frame, and Oral Roberts fended off Marquette's set point repeatedly at the end before Meghan Niemann and Erin Lehman teamed up to block Nika Mostahinic to end things at 28-26. The fourth, though, was all MU as they jumped out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back en route to a 25-16 win.
That brought us to what I consider to be the worst thing in college sports: the fifth set. After being essentially even through four sets played to 25 points, things get decided by playing one final round to 15. Please, if you have anything resembling an explanation as to how this is remotely fair, let me know. To put this into perspective: Marquette lost the final frame 15-12. I mean, Marquette trailed 15-13 in the third set and they ended up winning that one. How is it a fair competition to end the fifth set at 15?
Taylor Louis led Marquette with 28 kills, while Laura Milos had a match high 33 kills for Oral Roberts. Sara Blasier was her usual productive self with 51 assists, and Lauren Houg had a match high 25 digs on defense for MU.
Up Next: Marquette has two matches as part of the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational on Saturday. First up is Miami (FL) at 11am Central, followed by host Missouri State at 7:30pm. The match against Missouri State will be available on ESPN3.