The Golden Eagles wrap up Big East play at 16-2 after beating Xavier and DePaul, both on the road.
We can’t say there was a lot of drama for Marquette volleyball’s final weekend of the regular season. We can say there was a little bit of drama to their 3-0 sweep of Xavier on Friday and a little bit more drama to their 3-1 victory over DePaul in the regular season finale on Sunday. With the two wins, MU is now 22-7 on the season and 16-2 in Big East play headed to the conference tournament.
It didn’t look like there was going to be a lot of drama on Friday in Cincinnati. Marquette held Xavier to .000 hitting in the first frame and they were up 19-13 before a late smattering of points from the Musketeers left the first set score at 25-18. There was, however, drama in the second set. The Golden Eagles had staked themselves to a four point lead at a couple of spots, including at 17-13, but they just couldn’t quite shake off Xavier in this one. The Musketeers tied it at 19, then took a 21-20 lead on a kill by Logan Flaugh as the XU setter dumped one over on the Golden Eagles. This turned out to be part of an 8-2 run by the home team that had them on the edge of winning the second set at 24-21.
Kill by Hattie Bray. Misfire by XU’s Kelsey Niesen. Kill by Aubrey Hamilton, and then another. Then, one more kill from Bray, as Xavier had no answer for her slide to the pin all night, and that’s 26-24 MU in the second after five straight points to rally and take the set.
Zero Drama Island showed up in the third, as Marquette jumped out to a 6-1 start in the frame. Xavier did slash it back to a three point margin, even as late as 16-13, but a 6-1 for Marquette gave them a 22-14 advantage and they could just trade points from there.
I wasn’t kidding about no answer for Hattie Bray. 15 kills on just 20 swings with just one error for a .700 hitting percentage. She also had four assisted blocks and a solo stuff AND an assist AND an ace AND a dig. Aubrey Hamilton helped out with 12 kills, but she had to hit .075 to get there.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and FloSports?
I don’t know exactly what happened for Marquette on Sunday afternoon against DePaul. Two things worked against me. The first was Marquette playing at the exact same time as the women’s basketball team playing at home against IU Indy. The second was DePaul selling their home games to Marquee Sports Network, which is not available outside of Chicago.
So, precisely what’s going on? No idea. But I can read a box score, and I can tell you it’s hard to win a set when the other team hits .500 against you, and that’s what DePaul did. Still, MU didn’t really lose control of the thing until a 5-1 burst late put the Blue Demons up 21-14. Kind of out of options there, time wise, and a misfire from Hattie Bray gave the 1-0 lead to DePaul on a 25-17 set.
From reading a box score, it certainly looks like this was a “DePaul made Marquette bleed, and the Golden Eagles grew more powerful upon seeing their own blood” situation. MU hit progressively better as the match went on, going from .200 in the first to .283 to .371 to .442. Still, it took some doing. DePaul went up 9-5 early in the second before Marquette answered with four straight of their own. Things stayed pretty close until the Golden Eagles just edged closer to a win than DePaul did, and a kill from Natalie Ring gave them a 24-20 lead. DePaul fended off three set points, but Ella Foti gave the set to Marquette with a kill.
The third set wasn’t a runaway for Marquette at any point, just a progressive drip-drip-drip of scoring multiple consecutive points and not letting DePaul do that. That’s how you suddenly find yourself up 18-12 even without a big run. Just keep pushing, and you win 25-18.
A 13-9 edge in the fourth didn’t mean anything at all for Marquette as DePaul immediately wiped it away. The Blue Demons got a kill from Meghan Scholz to tie the set up at 21 and definitely create doubt as to whether Marquette could close this thing out in four sets. But Marquette got a block from Daugherty and Hamilton, and then an attack error from Luisa Juncu to have them knocking on the door. Natalie Ring and Carsen Murray got the last two points of the day by way of kills, and Marquette was able to dodge a fifth tiebreaker set.
Aubrey Hamilton was back to more of her normal self here, getting 21 kills on .268 hitting. Ella Foti (12), Carsen Murray (11), and Natalie Ring (10) all got to double digits, and each of them hit at least .300 to do it….. which almost raises questions about why there was so much tightly contested volleyball in this one.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and Marquee Sports Network?
Up Next: That DePaul match was the end of the regular season, and Marquette had already clinched the #2 seed in the Big East tournament. As such, they’ll wait til the semifinals on Friday, which will be at 5pm Central time on Friday. MU will play the winner of the #3 vs #6 match on Wednesday evening, which will be either UConn or Villanova. FloSports will carry each of the first four matches of the tournament, while the title game will be on FS2 on Saturday.