A dominating 25-10 second set Thursday night against Wisconsin-Milwaukee showed how impressive the Marquette women’s volleyball team can be when playing its best.

Unfortunately, the first and third sets showed how inconsistent, albeit talented, the Golden Eagles are, culminating in a 2-1 loss at the hands of the Panthers at the Al McGuire Center.

The Golden Eagles took an 8-5 lead in the first set behind a pair of kills from junior outside hitter Ciara Jones,  but eventually lost that lead, as sophomore outside hitter Elizabeth Egerer, a Michigan State-transfer, had two of her team-high nine kills on back-to-back plays to give the Panthers a 24-22 lead.

Whatever happened between sets must have worked, as Marquette took a commanding 15-3 lead in the second behind red-hot junior outside hitter Ashley Beyer, who finished the night with 16 kills. In that set, the Golden Eagles hit .565 as a team and had no errors on their 23 attacks.

“I just knew the ball was going to come to the outside more, so I had a bigger role,” Beyer said. “I needed to take care of the ball whenever I got it and however I got it, and execute as best as I could.”

Marquette held a slight advantage in the third set and had a chance to put the game away late, but Milwaukee rallied to take the final frame, 19-17. Milwaukee junior setter Samantha Trawitzke posted a double-double in the win, with 22 assists and 10 digs.

While the spring season is used primarily as exhibition to let teams continue practicing before summer workouts begin, no intensity has been lost from the Golden Eagles’ fall season.

Coach Bond Shymansky’s players were loud, diving for balls, aggressive and enthusiastic with every point won Thursday night. Despite the loss, Shymansky said attempting to develop a competitive team identity can be improved with close losses, making Thursday night’s loss a valuable experience.

While the effort is undoubtedly there, the consistency is still a work in progress. With no true setter on the roster and a young back row, the Golden Eagles are making due with what they have this spring. One important facet to playing competitively is staying focused.

“It was a bit shaky at the beginning,” Shymansky said. “We have such a young back row, so focus can be an issue, but we’ll get better. I have 100 percent confidence we can be as good as we were last year.”

In order to match last season’s dominating performance, two players who will need to command leadership roles are Beyer and Jones.

“She’s learning now that she has to step up in a more vocal way rather than just playing,” Jones said of her teammate. “She’s really learning to talk and give positive feedback and it helps everyone.”

That was certainly the player Beyer looked like Thursday night, seemingly popping up everywhere to finish with kills and encouraging teammates in clutch situations.

But as important as Beyer and Jones can be to a team’s success, Shymansky also said consistency comes when all players are working and contributing together.

“As a (soon-to-be) senior, (Beyer) is who she is, and that’s not going to change a lot,” he said. “It’s the younger players who need to change, grow and learn to play around her.”

Many of those younger players can be found in the back row, including freshman libero Julie Jeziorowski. Thursday night she finished with a match-high 11 digs, including two late in the third set to keep Marquette alive.

For Beyer, consistency will come through practice and the growth of younger players this summer.

“We do have consistency issues, but that’s as a team and we’re working on it,” she said. “Our back row is getting better and I’m excited to see what they’ll do next year because they’ll be that much more intense and they’ll know what they need to do.”