The Marquette women’s volleyball team dropped a tough five set match (25-19, 15-25, 18-25, 25-20, 10-15) against Seton Hall to drop to 0-3 in the Big East and 10-7 overall.
“We were up and down,” said junior Rabbecka Gonyo. “We just need to stay more consistent.”
The Golden Eagles took the first set with relative ease but looked lost in the second and third sets playing with no consistency or passion. Bouncing back in the fourth set to tie up the match, Marquette wasn’t able to put the finishing touches in the fifth and final set.
“We’re kind of struggling to find out what our identity is and how we’re going to win,” said coach Bond Shymansky. “That’s a carbon copy of our last match at West Virginia where we got up easy, toasted them in the first game, but then put it on cruise control. As a coach I have to find a way to keep them motivated, keep them inspired and make better adjustments to keep moving forward.”
Sophomore Ashley Beyer led all players with 19 kills while junoir Leslie Bielski added 13 of her own. Junior Nikki Klingsporn dished out 50 assists and recorded a season high six kills.
After dropping the first two points of the first set, the Golden Eagles took command of the first set making quick work of the Pirates. Tied at seven, Marquette stepped up its blocking to score four unanswered points.
Seton Hall tried to come back capitalizing on a Marqutte net violation but once again, Marquette had the answer. Kills by redshirt freshman Holly Mertens and Gonyo followed by a Hailey Viola ace gave the home squad a 16-12 advantage. Seton Hall would attempt one more comeback down 20-16 taking three of four points to make it 21-19. Back to back errors by the Pirates however stifled the comeback and Mertens ended the set 25-19 with a kill.
“When we are on we are on,” said Mertens. “We just need to work hard and show we can do it.”
Marquette once again dropped the first two points, this time in the second set. After answering with two points of their own, the Golden Eagles would remain on the wrong side of the score the rest of the set. Back to back Beyer kills brought the Eagles within a point at 12-13, but then Seton Hall went on a 12-3 to take Marquette out of the set. Rachel Thornquist put up 5 kills for the Pirates who barely seemed to notice the Marquette block hitting .500 for the set. Seton Hall would win the set 25-15.
The Golden Eagles split the next two sets looking like different teams in each. In the third set, Marquette hit .051 and only tallied one block allowing Seton Hall to dominate 25-18. In the fourth set however, Marquette smashed 17 kills and hit .279 putting up a better defense and tallying four blocks. It took the set 25-20.
In the fifth set, the two teams traded points and had the score knotted up at 8. Two kills by Seton Hall and a Marquette attack error put the Eagles behind at 8-11. With a .550 hitting percentage, the Pirates didn’t let Marquette back in it, taking the set 15-10 and the match 3-2.