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Following Friday night’s three set loss to Creighton, Marquette made the trip out to the east coast for match #2 on the Big East schedule and rebounded with a three set victory over Providence, 25-21, 25-14, and 25-18. The Golden Eagles are now 1-1 in Big East play and 11-3 on the season.
Things started out a little shaky for Marquette, as Providence took an 11-7 lead in the early goings of the first set. MU caught a break when PC committed three straight errors late in the frame to allow the Golden Eagles to edge out to an 18-17 lead. The Friars retook the lead at 20-19, but a 5-0 run that included two more PC errors and two kills from Jenna Rosenthal shoved MU forward and they sealed it up on a block by Rosenthal and Taylor Louis.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set and slowly built that one up before running off four straight to go up 17-9. That was pretty much that for set #2, and the teams headed to the break after an anti-climactic service error by Providence. The third set was kind of dull as run outs to victory go, as Marquette just got a little bit of a lead and then just held Providence at bay, kind of like an older sibling using their longer arms and strength to keep their younger sibling away while they swing their arms wildly. Abby Julian wrapped things up with a service ace, and that was that.
The big news of the day came very early in the second set when Meghan Niemann partnered up with Taylor Louis for a block on Jenae Alderson to give MU a 2-0 lead. Seems mostly harmless, right? Well, that was Niemann’s second assisted block of the game, giving her 364 for her career. That ties the Marquette career record, set previously by Martha Meyer and Rabbecka Gonyo. She did not register another block in the game, though, so we’ll have to wait for next time for a brand new program record.
Louis finished with a game high 14 kills while hitting a ridiculous .464. Niemann had a great day as well, registering eight kills on 19 error free swings. Sara Blasier finished with a double-double, registering 32 assists and 17 digs. Lauren Houg continued her march to the 2nd most digs in Marquette history with 17 of her own.
Up Next: The Golden Eagles return to the Al McGuire for a pair of matches next weekend. They’ll host Georgetown (4-11, 1-1 Big East) on Friday night before bringing in Villanova (10-5, 1-1 Big East) on Saturday evening.