#23 Marquette Volleyball Goes 2-0 Over The Weekend

YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles are now 6-1 on the year after picking up a 4-1 (25-19, 25-16, 20-25, 25-14) win over LSU on Saturday and a 3-0 () win over Milwaukee on Saturday! #23 MU is now 3-0 on their 10 match homestand, and I think that is pretty good.

For a good long stretch, it looked like Marquette’s contest LSU was going to be some straight forward volleyball by a ranked team at home. The first set was pretty close through what you’d call the midway point as a 3-0 bunch from the Tigers put them up 14-12..... and then Marquette scored the next eight points and only had two errors by LSU to help that out. 20-14 all of a sudden, and yeah, LSU scored the next three, but it was 5-2 Marquette the rest of the way to wrap up on an Aubrey Hamilton kill. Set #2 turned a little early as MU popped off six straight to go from down three to up three at 9-6 and make the visitors start chasing the match. They tied it at 11, but Marquette scored eight of the next 11 to take a 19-14 lead and close the frame out on a 14-5 run on an Ella Foti ace.

Straight forward.... up until the third set. LSU got out to a 4-0 lead to open up and Marquette was behind the eight ball the entire rest of the way. The closest they ever got to the Tigers was the three point margin generated by breaking that four point run to start the set, and LSU just held Marquette at arm’s length to force a fourth set.

We can argue about whether or not they regret doing that. Things looked pretty neat for them when Josie Vondran opened up the fourth with an ace.... and then Marquette scored the next five points on two kills and three blocks. If it wasn’t already going MU’s way at that point, the 8-2 run (which included five straight) to go up 17-9 pretty much secured the bag. Marquette had no interest of even letting LSU think the door was cracked open as they scored six of the final seven points to take the 25-14 final frame win.

Aubrey Hamilton hit .314 to lead Marquette in kills with 15, and both Ella Foti (11) and Jenna Reitsma (10) got to double digits with her. Perhaps the weirdest part about the whole thing? Ella Holmstrom playing in just one set and taking just three swings after spraying kills all over the place against Loyola on Tuesday. Yadhira Anchante averaged 11 kills a set with a career high 44 helpers and she got 13 digs for the double-double, too. Carly Skrabak was all over the place for Marquette with 18 digs in the four set contest.

FUN FACT: Marquette is now 2-0 in SEC action this season after beating preseason favorite Kentucky in the opening match of the year. Uncrowned conference champs, if you ask me.

How about some highlights, courtesy of FloSports and GoMarquette.com?

That swings us along to Sunday afternoon’s match against Milwaukee, and it’s worth noting that the Panthers lost 3-1 to LSU on Friday night. Yeah. So. As it turns out, if you hit .333 or better in every set while making that .333 the best possible performance by your opponent, you’re probably going to win.

Set #1 is explained by way of a 13-3 run that left Marquette up 17-7. Yep. Next set: How about an 8-2 Marquette run to flip a 5-3 Milwaukee lead to 11-7 Golden Eagles? Later on, a Carsen Murray/Yadhira Anchante combo block kicked off an 11-2 run to bring the Golden Eagles to match point at 24-13. The Panthers fended off the outcome three straight times, which is neat for them, but Hattie Bray pushed it along to intermission.

Officially, Set #3 was The Close One, but it didn’t look like that. 6-1 Marquette out of the gate made things look awfully one sided and the Panthers never got closer than two points the rest of the way. The Golden Eagles just kept knocking together points in a row to keep Milwaukee in their rear view mirror, and freshman Natalie Ring wrapped it up with a kill.

Aubrey Hamilton and Hattie Bray shared leadership on kills in this one with both women getting to eight, although Bray did it on 12 error free swings. 10 different Golden Eagles recorded a kill in this match, including middle hitter Anastasija Svetnik who made her season debut after a preseason knee injury. Yadhira Anchante had 33 assists, which is particularly impressive since Carly Skrabak added seven from the libero spot to go with her team high 10 digs. Head coach Ryan Theis has always emphasized quality passing from everywhere on the court, so that’s not exactly surprising work from Skrabak.

How about some highlights, courtesy of FloSports and GoMarquette.com?

Up Next: First is waiting for Monday’s brand new AVCA top 25 poll, but then it’s another Tuesday night match for the Golden Eagles. The homestand continues when Green Bay comes to town for a 7pm start, and the match will be streamed on FloSports. The Phoenix are 5-4 this season after 2-1 at a tournament hosted by Ball State over the weekend, and that includes a win over Alabama and a loss to the hosting Cardinals. Coming up this weekend? Big home showdowns with Illinois and Illinois State to close out non-conference play!