What you get when you mix five people with at least seven kills — which equated to an efficient .342 hitting percentage — with 10 blocks is what Marquette volleyball and Butler experienced on an early October afternoon Sunday inside the Al McGuire Center.
For the Golden Eagles (7-6, 3-1 Big East), it was a bounce-back sweep (25-18, 25-11, 25-20), a third Big East home win and even more evidence of how badly they can punish the unlucky conference foes that meander through the front doors on 12th street.
For the Bulldogs (2-14, 0-4), it was a 10th-straight loss and a guarantee they’ll stay winless in conference play for at least another five days.
“I liked our block,” head coach Ryan Theis said. “I liked that we had five in the first, we were sitting at seven [after two sets]. I don’t know what we ended with, but I thought we did a good job of pressing and getting in front of hitters.”
Marquette was led by Natalie Ring who racked a career-high 13 kills, and Aubrey Hamilton, who put up nine. Hattie Bray, Ella Foti and Carsen Murray all put up seven, and Yadhira Anchante finished with her prescribed double-double (28 assists, 11 digs) as well.
“The versatility is huge,” Theis said. “And Foti does that offensively, and then Hattie and Carsen are chipping in. It becomes hard to stop.”
Along with blocking, Marquette had three players with double-digit digs, led by a match-most 13 from libero Molly Berezowitz, followed by Anchante’s 11 and defensive specialist Samantha Naber with 10.
The stout defense equated to a lowly .127 hitting percentage for Butler: .075 in the first, .097 in the second and .205 in the third.
It didn’t take long for it to go from good to better to best for the Golden Eagles.
In the first set, it was three-straight points off the bat, followed by another 3-0 run to put Marquette ahead 11-6 and forced a timeout from Butler, capped off by four points in a row to close it out, 25-18.
In the second, it was a 14-point lead for Marquette courtesy of a 6-0 run to end it (25-11), which followed a 4-1 run (16-7) which followed a 6-1 run (10-3).
In the third, it was much closer but five-straight points to make it 22-16 secured the Golden Eagles the frame, 25-20, and the sweep.
Up next for Marquette is a match at St. John’s Friday at 6 p.m. CST.
The Red Storm had the Golden Eagles’ number last season, 2-1, with five-set wins over MU coming in the regular season in Queens and the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament at the Al McGuire Center.
“St. John’s without question, they can play three slow matches in a row, and look like, you know they’re not prepared, and as soon as Marquette walks in, they’re ready to go,” Theis said.
“So we’ve played some tough ones there before, and we’ll expect another tough one Friday.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.