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If you were like me and you went in to Saturday’s Big East opener for Marquette with good feelings and enthusiasm, you weren’t wrong. The Golden Eagles had won six straight matches on their way to a 10-2 record and were knocking on the door of the top 25 poll.
Except.... their first league match this season was a road trip to Creighton, the preseason pick to win the Big East. Even though the Bluejays came in with a 6-6 record after dropping matches to ranked foes, they’re still the team to beat in the conference, and that was made clear after Saturday’s game, too.
Creighton defeated Marquette in straight sets, 25-22, 25-22, 25-18, dropping the Golden Eagles to 10-3 on the year and 0-1 in league play. MU has now lost six straight matches to the Bluejays.
It was three straight sets of essentially the same story: Creighton jumped out to a lead, Marquette was able to keep it within shouting distance before sneaking back in at the very end to make it look closer than it actually was. Marquette clawed back from a 19-12 lead and staved off set point three times in the first, and they managed to make it interesting in the second after trailing 22-15. The third set saw the Jays jumping out to a 10-3 lead coming out of the locker room, and while MU got within three at 16-13 on a pair of Joy Miley kills, Creighton stormed away with six of the next eight points and that was pretty much that.
Taylor Louis had a decent game, recording a game high 13 kills. She had to hit .122 to get there though, as the Jays defense was able to neutralize Marquette’s best offensive option. Freshman Allie Barber brought the heat, though, matching Louis’ kill total while hitting .571. Creighton had three attackers break double digits in kills, with Jaali Winters leading the team with 12. The real issue for Marquette is that they allowed Creighton to hit .299 after holding opponents to just .170 in the first 12 matches of the season.
How about some highlights, courtesy GoCreighton.com and the Big East Digital Network?
Up Next: Marquette gets to knock the worst road trip of the season out of the way first, as they cross half the country to get to the east coast to play Providence on Sunday afternoon. The Friars (12-5) dropped their Big East opener to DePaul in five sets on Friday night.