Now that’s more like it.

Just a week after falling to cross-town rival Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the women’s volleyball team closed its spring season with a 2-1 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats thanks to some nifty work from the front row.

It was a small dose of redemption for the Golden Eagles, who lost to the Wildcats 3-1 during the fall season. That Northwestern team would eventually advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Thursday night, it was the Golden Eagles who looked tournament-ready.

Sophomore right side hitter and co-captain Danielle Carlson led the way with seven kills and six blocks, and felt relieved to finally have a solid performance defensively after faltering against Milwaukee.

“It was really exciting for us to not just get touches on the ball, but  just straight down blocks,” Carlson said. “(Freshman) Courtney (Mrotek) did a great job of getting in there, staying low and owning the hitter.”

Mrotek was also key for the Golden Eagles, finishing with five of Marquette’s 11 blocks on the night. She also contributed two kills for Marquette, which finished the spring season 5-3-2.

“We definitely have gotten better at realizing when to take the swing and be aggressive, even if the sets aren’t quite there,” she said.

The setter position has been a difficult one to fill this spring, as the Golden Eagles have played every spring match without a true player at the all-important position.

Coach Bond Shymansky has said the team needs to deal with chaotic situations any team goes through in a given season, and to this point Marquette has improved on that. After a lackadaisical opening set that Marquette lost 25-14, the team rebounded by winning the second set 25-23 and winning a hard-fought third set, 16-14.

“We’ve been able to adapt and keep fighting through the chaos,” Mrotek said. “We didn’t deal with it (in the first set), and that’s what changed in the last two games. We’ve dealt with chaos and adapting, and competing on the court regardless of who’s out there.”

Sophomore middle hitter Kelsey Mattai added that, despite the slow start, she liked that the team was able to rebound in the later sets.

“It’s much easier to play well if you start out with intensity, and I think that was the struggle we were dealing with Thursday,” Mattai said. “We came out lackluster but were able to build it up later to get the win.”

Losing seniors Nikki Klingsporn and Rabbecka Gonyo, who were at the match Thursday night, has been tough on the Golden Eagles, but they proved this spring that they can keep balls alive with a talented frontcourt, and Thursday night showed they have hitters capable of finishing off plays.

“I think our team chemistry has really come together,” Mattai said. “By the end of the season we were more comfortable playing together and getting over the losses. We found our persona as a team.”

Carlson added that those losses have helped the team come together in preparation for the fall season.

“I think because we’ve been scrambling trying to make our team work together, it’s great seeing how the girls have really pulled it together and fought for every point,” Carlson said.

While the team seems to have everything in order on the court, Mattai said the team must work on its intensity in order to find wins next season.

“We need to work on having that fire in games,” she said. “It needs to be intrinsic. It needs to come from us.”