The Marquette women’s volleyball team has gotten off to a fast start in its spring season, but coach Bond Shymansky says his team must realize that wins now should be expected of the program.
After the most successful fall in program history, Marquette fared well in its two competitions last week to begin its spring season.
The Golden Eagles began spring competition at the Great Lakes Center Collegiate Challenge on March 26, where they finished 2-1.
A loss to Western Michigan in their opening match did not deter the Golden Eagles, who rebounded to beat Valparaiso (17-25, 25-20, 17-15) before coming up with a gritty sweep over Big East-rival Louisville (25-20, 25-22).
Senior outside hitter Ciara Jones stole the show in the win over the Cardinals, finishing with 22 kills, while junior middle hitter Danielle Carlson (21 kills) and senior outside hitter Ashley Beyer (20 kills) also had productive afternoons.
Carlson also picked up where she left off in the fall season, holding down the middle in those three games, Shymansky said.
Sophomore libero Rachel Stier said the win over Louisville made up for the team’s loss to the Cardinals in last year’s Big East Tournament.
“I think it was a big boost because it redeemed us from the Big East Tournament,” Stier said. “And we’re still working on working together with the new players we have. It just felt great that we can beat anyone if we play up to our potential.”
Five days later, the Golden Eagles finished 2-1-2 at the Badger Spring Invitational, including wins over Northern Iowa (25-20, 25-21) and Green Bay (25-12, 25-19).
Marquette split sets against host school Wisconsin (26-28, 25-17), with Jones leading the way with eight kills. Carlson, one of 12 Golden Eagles to see the court against the Badgers, had seven kills herself. And split with Iowa (23-25, 25-14).
Shymansky said that group of two-set matches was more of a team effort, but he was still happy with the results considering the changes his team is going through.
“We’re trying new things and changing things all the time,” Shymansky said. “The spring is a good time to learn and develop. The thing that we’re most interested in is the culture of winners rather than just winning.”
The Golden Eagles dropped their match against North Dakota, losing 25-21, 27-25.
One player Shymansky has been impressed with is freshman libero Julie Jeziorowski, who has taken on a leadership role since the departures of setter Nikki Klingsporn and middle hitter Rabbeccka Gonyo, calling it “leadership in a non-leadership role.”
The Golden Eagles’ coach said this is something he expected from the get-go, as Jeziorowski showed the same intangibles back in high school.
For her, it’s something she expected of herself as well.
“I’ve always wanted to take the wheel; I like to be in control,” Jeziorowski said. “This is what Bond expected out of me, so I’m just here to fill expectations.”
With two weeks left in the spring season, Shymansky said his team needs to shore up its setter and right side positions, and learn to compete when the game is not going as planned.
“I think it’s easy to play in our system when things are going perfect,” Shymansky said. “Points come so easy, but when things aren’t perfect, I want to know, how do we scrap, fight and claw from then on.”
The team will take the Al McGuire Center court tonight against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a team it swept in straight sets last fall (25-21, 25-18, 25-20). Jones will look to continue her dominance against the Panthers, as she had a then-career-high 18 kills against the cross-town rival.
