After an 18-12 season in the fall, Bond Shymansky’s first as the Golden Eagles’ skipper, the Marquette women’s volleyball team is back in action.
Marquette’s spring season began last weekend as the Golden Eagles traveled to the Sunshine State to play against Central Florida and South Florida.
And although there is no season-ending tournament or championship to work toward in the spring, the team did not and is not taking its games lightly.
“We don’t put these hard teams in our schedule just so we can get good playing time,” freshman Danielle Carlson said. “We want to win. We want to execute. We want to push ourselves.”
This is a sentiment that is taught from the top down. Shymansky pushes his players to play hard in any game and to never let up.
“Anytime you compete at anything you’re competing to win,” Shymansky said. “Spring ball should be no different. Anytime you step out onto the court and there’s a different school across the net you have to want to beat them. If you don’t, you’re not geared for Division I volleyball.”
Marquette swept South Florida 4-0 and took down Central Florida 4-1. Sophomore Ashley Beyer picked up right where she left off last year, leading Marquette with a combined 32 kills in the two matches.
Last year’s team leader in kills, Beyer tallied 14 kills against South Florida and 18 against Central Florida to go along with a .35 hitting percentage.
Junior middle hitter Rabbecka Gonyo stated earlier in the year that the team’s goal every game was to hit .300.
“(Hitting .300) murders teams because obviously they can’t pick up our ball,” Gonyo said.
Shymansky said this was a great sign the offense is on the right track.
“I think it’s a good start for us,” Shymansky said. “It’s always exciting for our team to get out and actually compete against somebody else. It’s good to test yourself against different players and different styles.”
Fellow outside hitter, sophomore Ciara Jones, put down 19 kills of her own, while Gonyo added 17.
Two freshmen also stood out over the weekend. Middle hitter Kelsey Mattai hit a tremendous .466 while right side hitter Carlson did not commit a hitting error in 30 attempts.
“I was pleased with my play,” Carlson said. “I was glad the way I could contribute. The way that we won both matches was a real good way to pump us up for what’s to come the next few weekends.”
The Golden Eagles will have an opportunity to exact some revenge this weekend as they welcome Iowa to the Al McGuire Center. Iowa handed Marquette its first defeat of the season last fall, beating the Golden Eagles 3-1 in the second match of the Loyola Invitational.
The teams split the first two sets in that match before Iowa took control, easily winning the next two 25-18, 25-15. Junior Leslie Bielski led Marquette with 17 kills in the match while no other player recorded double-digit kills.
“We’re remembering that we lost to them,” Carlson said. “We want to win this, and we want to show that we’ve improved.”
Shymansky said there was extra motivation for this weekend’s tilt with the Hawkeyes.
“They’re a team that beat us last year,” Shymansky said. “I think you definitely want to avenge that loss.”