The women's volleyball team had little to motivate it in its match against Villanova today after being eliminated from contention for the Big East tournament. The Golden Eagles were defeated by the Wildcats 3-0 (25-30, 31-33, 29-31) to finish the conference season 5-9 (8-16 overall), which puts them in a tie for 11th place with West Virginia.
Only the top eight teams make the conference tournament, which will be held at the Al McGuire Center next weekend.
"It's disappointing," head coach Pati Rolf said. "A year ago we decided to host the Big East tournament, with the squad that we had there was a lot of optimism, and you head through a summer where you lose three starters, it's pretty devastating for the team."
It was senior Kim Todd that kept the Golden Eagles' postseason hopes alive all season, but in their final match, junior Ashlee Fisher stepped up, leading the team with 17 kills and a .382 hitting percentage. Todd finished with 13 kills and 9 errors, finishing with a hitting percentage of just .100.
"Ashlee played awesome today — she really stepped up her game," Todd said. "She's really taking her shots to the next level and working hard."
Despite Fisher's great play, Villanova was just too much for Marquette as four Wildcat players finished with at least nine kills. Alona Cherkez had a match-high 19 kills, while her teammate Elysse Studzinski finished with nine kills and a .529 hitting percentage.
Marquette finished the match with 31 errors compared to just 23 for the Wildcats.
"We struggled offensively, I just obviously met with my two setters, I think it was an offensive issue with our quarterback, our setter and distributing the ball properly to our hitters," Rolf said.
Villanova won the first game easily 30-25, powered by six kills a piece from Cherkez and Kacy Sellers as the Wildcats hit .260 as a team, compared to just .170 for the Golden Eagles.
Marquette came out hot in game two, going up 5-0 after two consecutive service aces from Katie Weidner, but the Wildcats responded by going on a 13-4 run. There were only three lead changes in this game, but Villanova got the one that mattered, taking the lead late 29-28.
Marquette came out flat in game three as the Wildcats took a 4-0 lead and never let go of it. Marquette trailed the entire game before losing 29-31.
Marquette has only two matches remaining against Maine and South Dakota State, both of which will be at the Al McGuire Center. All eight of Marquette's victories this season have come on its home floor.