Despite having four players with 10 or more kills and two with double-doubles, the Marquette women’s volleyball team lost in five sets to Butler in Indianapolis, Ind., Wednesday (22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 22-25, 11-15). The Golden Eagles drop to 14-5 on the season and 5-2 in Big East play. The loss also snapped a seven-game road winning streak for Marquette.
Sophomore Autumn Bailey led all players in kills and digs with 30 and 25 ,respectively, both career highs, and .325 hitting percentage. Sophomore Nele Barber also notched a double-double with 11 kills and 15 digs, despite a .057 hitting percentage. Redshirt sophomore Meghan Niemann and senior Lindsey Gosh also chipped in with 12 kills a piece, with Niemann adding a personal best eight blocks, and freshman Gabby Benda posted an incredible, career best 49 assists, 72 percent of the team’s 68 assists. Butler (13-7, 5-3) had three players with more than 10 kills and was led by junior Erica Stahl, who had 15 kills and only one error with a .467 hitting percentage.
The story for Marquette was sloppy play as the team had a combined 24 attack errors as well as eight service errors and a team hitting percentage of .235, never hitting better than .267 on the day.
Marquette never led in the first set, yet stayed close throughout, losing 22-25. The Golden Eagles got five kills each from Bailey and Barber, but also had six errors in the set to Butler’s three, proving to be the difference in the game. The Bulldogs led by as many as five on two different occasions, including being up 24-19. But the Golden Eagles refused to quit, scoring three consecutive points before Butler could take game point and a 1-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles came back strong in the second set. The team led throughout the game until a 7-3 run gave the Bulldogs a 12-11 lead. But Marquette responded with a streak of its own, scoring eight of the next 10 points, giving the team a 19-14 advantage that they rode to victory, 25-22. Bailey had seven kills as Niemann and Gosh tacked on four of their own.
The third set was by far Marquette’s best. The team came out on a 4-0 run thanks in part to three Butler attack errors. Butler took a timeout to try to stop the rally, but the Golden Eagles were relentless. The team stayed hot and got out to a 17-9 lead before a Butler 7-2 run made it a three point game, 19-16. However Marquette stayed composed, taking five straight after the Butler threat and eventually adding the sixth point for a 25-18 win. Bailey led the Golden Eagles with seven kills, and Marquette notched a total of four aces, two from Benda.
Marquette came into the fourth set up 2-1 with an opportunity to close out the match, but a total of seven attack errors held them back and gave Butler the win, 25-22. The game was back and forth from the first serve, but Marquette led most of the way, even holding a lead as late as 17-14. But the Bulldogs came on strong and scored six straight, taking the lead, 20-17. Again, Marquette never gave up, even coming as close as 22-23 before dropping the last two points to Butler. The Golden Eagles had kills from seven different players in the set, but it was not enough to take down the Bulldogs.
In the fifth and final set, Marquette kept it close, but could never quite get over the hump. Down 10-11, Marquette had a chance to make a run, but an attack error by Bailey started a decisive 4-1 run by Butler to give them the match, 15-11. That error was Marquette’s only of the set.
The Golden Eagles will look to get back on track at home Friday at 7 p.m. against Villanova (10-12, 3-4) at the Al McGuire Center, followed by another home game against Seton Hall, undefeated in conference, at 6 p.m. Saturday.
