The Marquette women’s volleyball team (20-7, 10-2 Big East) took care of business in New Jersey this weekend, downing Rutgers on Saturday and Seton Hall on Sunday and staying in the driver’s seat for the Big East title.

The wins were Marquette’s 12th and 13th in a row and kept the Golden Eagles in control of the race for the Big East regular season title, with the league’s first and second place teams, Louisville and Cincinnati, coming to town this weekend.

Marquette began the weekend with its fourth consecutive sweep, downing Rutgers (10-16, 2-10 Big East) in three sets (25-22, 25-21, 25-23).

Junior outside hitter Ciara Jones led all players with 13 kills. Junior outside hitter Ashley Beyer chipped in 12 kills and two service aces, while senior setter Nikki Klingsporn assisted on 38 kills.

Sunday’s matchup against Seton Hall (12-16, 6-6 Big East) was a completely different ball game. The Golden Eagles dropped the first set 25-23 after holding a 23-20 lead, it’s first dropped set since Oct. 24.

Marquette bounced back, winning the next two stanzas comfortably, 25-16 and 25-17. In the fourth set, though, it squandered a 20-18 lead and was forced into a fifth and final set.

As the saying goes, the cream rises to the top. This squad may have been challenged for the first time in three weeks, but it came out on top 15-10, with Beyer providing 5 of the team’s 15 points.

She finished the match with 20 kills, tied with Jones for the team lead. The 20 kills were a career high for Jones. Klingsporn also tied her career high in assists with 62. Freshman libero Julie Jeziorowski was another player to record a career best, tallying 30 digs in the match.